Media Release: Disability Commissioner Paula Tesoriero outlayed her concerns about the End of Life Choice Bill to John Campbell on TVNZ’s Breakfast yesterday morning. "I'm concerned that the safeguards are woefully inadequate,” she said. “I'm deeply troubled by the fact that this conversation is taking place in the absence of having a wider discussion about adequate disability support services in New Zealand.” Ms Tesoriero referenced a recent report from the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities, Ms. Catalina Devandas-Aguilar, on her visit to Canada. The UN report, published in April 2019, highlights concerns that disabled people are being pressured to consider euthanasia in Canada.

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Media Release: 10% of older people in New Zealand experience some form of abuse, according to Age Concern professional educator on elder abuse and neglect, Hanny Naus. Age Concern see a wide range of older people who are abused, with 4 out of 5 of them being abused by family members. Speaking about David Seymour’s End of Life Choice Bill Ms Naus said, “Certainly, one of the issues around euthanasia is whether people’s life is of value. When it comes to elder abuse particularly, often the psychological threat that sits below it is that older people have no value – and so when it comes to euthanasia, from an elder abuse point of view, we would certainly argue that anybody’s life has value.”

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Media Release: A series of short videos featuring local and international euthanasia experts will be released across the #DefendNZ social media channels on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram from today. They are being released in the lead up to the likely Second Reading of David Seymour’s End of Life Choice Bill on Wednesday 26 June – only days away. Experts to feature include Australian Bioethics Professor Margaret Somerville of the University of Notre Dame. She sees the proposed legalisation of euthanasia as “the crossing of an ethical and legal Rubicon, after which it becomes impossible to contain the application and practice of euthanasia.”

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#DefendNZ Media Release. Disability Rights Commissioner Paula Tesoriero MNZM was quoted on TVNZ’s Sunday programme last night speaking against the effectiveness of proposed changes to the End of Life Choice Bill to limit access to euthanasia or assisted suicide to those with terminal illness and with six months left to live. The Bill’s sponsor has suggested this will fix the Bill. Presenter Miriama Kamo reports Tesoriero saying that such a change would not safeguard disabled people. "Overseas experience has shown the scope is likely to expand over time and take in groups initially excluded," she said.

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#DefendNZ Media Release. We all have a stake in the End of Life Choice Bill conversation, but for some people, this Bill is more than a thought experiment – it is a clear and present danger. For this reason, some of the people featured in the #DefendNZ documentaries are in the Capital to make themselves available to speak personally with MPs and media.

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#DefendNZ Media Release. The grassroots movement opposed to the End of Life Choice Bill – today releases its book ‘Vote “No” to Assisted Suicide’, which has also been delivered to MPs. It presents a collection of writings illustrating #DefendNZ’s reasons for speaking out against the End of Life Choice Bill. It details the stories of Kiwis who could be eligible for assisted suicide under the Bill, as well as commentary from New Zealand and international experts – and evidence supporting their concerns.

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#DefendNZ Media Release. The grassroots movement opposed to the End of Life Choice Bill – has listed their Top 5 Reasons why MPs should vote “no” at its Second Reading. The End of Life Choice Bill, should it pass, would put vulnerable people in danger of being coerced into requesting death, and of turning to death as a release from feelings of depression, anxiety, loneliness, or of concern about being a burden on loved ones.

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#DefendNZ Media Release. According to many, any attempt to limit access to euthanasia to those likely to die within six months would be difficult, if not impossible. This is because of the very imperfect art that is prognosis. This concern is captured perfectly in the story of Glenn Major, whose wife Heather and daughter Rachel recount his journey with terminal illness and disability, in the fifth documentary from #DefendNZ: When prognosis is wrong.

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#DefendNZ Media Release. In their Report, released today, the Justice Committee details hundreds of problems with the End of Life Choice Bill, but fixes none of the substantial ones. The Committee reports that they heard that the Bill’s criteria are too wide and vague, and the Bill doesn’t protect against coercion. That the Bill may undermine suicide prevention programmes, and it may breach the Treaty of Waitangi. To name a few.

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#DefendNZ Media Release. Vicki Walsh speaks out against the End of Life Choice Bill in documentary Terminal but not dead yet. In 2011 she was diagnosed with Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), also known as Grade 4 astrocytoma, an advanced form of the brain cancer that Wellington lawyer Lecretia Seales was diagnosed with in the same year.

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#DefendNZ Media Release. Former First Lady of New Zealand Dr Mary English speaks out against the End of Life Choice Bill in the third documentary released today by #DefendNZ – a grassroots movement opposed to the End of Life Choice Bill. A life in chronic pain features the story of Dr John Fox of Christchurch, who was born with spastic hemiplegia, a form of cerebral palsy.

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#DefendNZ Media Release. The movement opposed to the End of Life Choice Bill – launches its second full-length documentary today, entitled A deadly double standard which features the story of Claire Freeman from Christchurch, who has been a tetraplegic since her neck was broken in a car accident at the age of 17. A multiple suicide survivor and former euthanasia advocate, she now speaks out against the End of Life Choice Bill.

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#DefendNZ Media Release. #DefendNZ – the movement opposed to the End of Life Choice Bill – launches its first full-length mini-documentary today, entitled, Choice is a relative term, after the release of its trailer and website which was viewed by thousands on Sunday 10 March.

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