Final Exit Network Pro Suicide Show Open to 13 Year Olds

Youth suicide problem, Wesley?  What youth suicide problem?

In Tennessee, the suicide promoting and assisting organization, Final Exit Network, is holding a suicide promoting event at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church.  (These kind of compasssssssionaatttte events are almost always held at Unitarian churches.) 

Shamefully, it is open to 13 year olds and above.  From the pulished notice for “Death With Dignity: The Human Right of the 21st Century:”

Ages: 13+

Here’s a tragic story of the recent suicide of a 13 year-old:

Sitting in the principal’s office, Hope Witsell signed the “no-harm” contract the school social worker had given her, agreeing not to commit suicide. The next day, Sept. 12, 2009, the 13-year-old hanged herself with a scarf in her Wimauma bedroom. A year and a half later, Charles and Donna Witsell are still asking questions. Why didn’t anyone from Beth Shields Middle School call them when their daughter was called in for counseling? And why did they only learn about the contract days after finding her body?

Children that age are very impressionable and won’t necessarily get the idea that suicide is good for some suffering people but not for them. That kind of mixed message doesn’t really work for mature audiences.

Shame on FEN.  Shame on this TVUUC for allowing children to attend a suicide promoting presentation.