Welcome to PulsePoint for 12th September 2024 – the latest media stories and research related to family and society that you need to know about. It’s time to cut through the spin and uncover the real issues. In this episode of PulsePoint, we’ll update you on these topics:
1. Disturbing data in the latest euthanasia report
2. Canada’s cannabis use has become a serious problem
3. Russell Brand prays at a Tucker Carlson live tour
4. And finally, Indiana abortions drop 98% as a result of the abortion ban
You can check out all these stories and more on our website FamilyFirst.nz. We’ll keep watching the news… so that you don’t have to.
TRANSCRIPT:
Intro: Welcome to PulsePoint – the LATEST media stories AND research related to family and society that YOU need to know. It’s time to cut through the spin and uncover the REAL issues.
1. The latest review of assisted suicide / euthanasia was quietly released last month by the Ministry of Health and Family First just accidentally stumbled upon it.
It should sound significant and loud warning bells about the law, especially at a time when proponents want it to be liberalised even further.
IMAGE – report
Key findings in the Registrar (assisted dying) Annual Report June 2024 include:
What is most disturbing is that one in four applicants weren’t receiving palliative care. The End of Life Choice Act only provides a ‘right’ to one choice – premature death. There is no corresponding right to palliative care. Good palliative care and hospice services are resource intensive. Previous Governments have made little effort to address this growing problem and to increase funding for palliative care, and essential service. Euthanasia is instead given priority and full Government funding.
The other significant red flag in the report is that only 1% of applicants had a psychiatric assessment to check for both competence to make the decision, and for any presence of coercion. 99% of applicants were not assessed for these. The fact that so few patients are referred should raise serious questions around the competency of doctors involved in euthanasia, and also implies either key psychological signs are being ignored – or missed.
Many patients who are facing death or battling an irreversible, debilitating disease are depressed at some point. However, many people with depression who request euthanasia overseas revoke that request if their depression and pain are satisfactorily treated. If euthanasia or assisted suicide is approved, many patients who would have otherwise endured this dark, difficult phase and gone on to find meaning in their remaining months of life will die prematurely.
Now the government is currently reviewing the law. We’re deeply concerned about comments by Associate Minister of Health, David Seymour who is overseeing the review of the law. He recently stated on RNZ:
IMAGE – david seymour
“The statutory review is being the Ministry of Health right now. I believe, without pre-empting what it will say, that it will give a lot of weight to making change.”
It is deeply disturbing that a Minister would campaign and potentially unduly influence an independent review with this type of commentary.
It’s time we focused on and fully funded world-class palliative care – and not a lethal injection.
You can make a submission to this review. All the info you need is on our website familyfirst.nz under Research and Issues.
2. In October 2018, Canada was the first G-20 nation to legalise recreational cannabis. Six years on, public health experts and the research says that legalisation hasn’t created anyhealth benefits — but it has been linked to some serious concerns.
Harms include increased use, large increase in cannabis poisonings among young children, cannabis hospitalisations, and cannabis-induced psychosis.
According to a just-published article in the Ottawa Citizen, here are a few more startling and sad facts:
–Drugged driving is now a significant factor in serious car accidents, according to a recent study published by the University of British Columbia.
–Canada has the second highest rate of cannabis use in the world
–Prevalence of use by young people has increased 19 per cent since legalization.
–Cannabis use disorder in 18-to-24-year-olds has increased since legalization.
–Hospitals have seen a massive increases in ER visits for cannabis-induced psychosis, severe vomiting, and acute pregnancy care.
–There is increased evidence that regular cannabis use, particularly in youth, may cause serious health problems, including psychosis, anxiety, depression, altered brain functioning and addiction, especially among those with predispositions.
The good news for NZ is that as we watch the disaster of legalisation of cannabis in Canada and other places like Colorado, Oregon and every other state that goes down this track, the more concrete evidence we get that confirms that NZers made the very best decision in 2020 by voting no.
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3. A barefoot Russell Brand knelt on the floor at the conclusion of an hour-long conversation with conservative US commentator and interviewer Tucker Carlson and spontaneously prayed against the “dark and demonic forces” in government and corporate America.
Russell Brand an English comedian, actor, presenter, activist, and campaigner, who once backed British hard-left socialist Jeremy Corbyn, shifted into a staunch supporter of former president Donald Trump.
The actor’s journey to Christianity led him to share with his millions of followers that he’d chosen to be baptized. And so he was. He “took the plunge” on April 28 and was baptized in the river Thames.
Here is a video of him praying at Tucker Carlos live tour:
Video (Part 2)
4. And finally, In Indiana, the second-quarter abortion report for 2024 reveals a dramatic 98.6% decrease in abortions compared to the same period in 2023, with only 27 abortions reported. This drop follows the enforcement of Indiana’s new abortion law.
The majority of these abortions were chemically induced, with the abortion rate per 1,000 women aged 15-44 falling from 1.17 in Q2 2023 to 0.02 in Q2 2024. Most abortions were performed on women aged 25-34 and those with some college education. Notably, nearly two-thirds of women experiencing abortion complications were reported as Black or African American.
In Texas, data from the Health and Human Services Commission indicates that claims about the state’s abortion laws hindering necessary medical procedures are unfounded. Since the overturn of Roe v. Wade, elective abortions in Texas have decreased to zero, but 113 medically necessary abortions were performed to protect women’s lives or health from July 2022 through April 2024.
The latest report reaffirms that Kamala Harris’ dire claims about Texas’ protective abortion laws are completely baseless,” said Amy O’Donnell, Texas Alliance for Life’s Communications Director. “Texas’ laws continue to save unborn babies from abortion while also protecting women’s lives in those rare and tragic cases where pregnancy endangers a pregnant woman’s life or health.”
Overall, these reports show abortion bans are working as intended – protecting babies from abortions and allowing women to receive appropriate medical care instead
And THAT’S the latest episode of PulsePoint. You can check out ALL these stories AND MORE on our website familyfirst.nz. We’ll keep watching the news… so that you don’t have to.
See you next time.
