Alberta bill seeks ban on euthanasia for minors, significant restrictions for adults

(LifeSiteNews) – Alberta’s United Conservative Party (UCP) government will be cracking down on euthanasia and introducing legislation to ban the practice for minors while making it difficult for adults to be approved for the procedure.

On February 24, MLA Joseph Schow, the UCP’s House leader, announced a forthcoming bill regulating the availability of MAiD (Medical Assistance in Dying).

“Alberta’s government also plans to introduce legislation that, if passed, would regulate any Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) performed in Alberta, ensuring there is consistent oversight that protects vulnerable Albertans,” the UCP government announced in a press release.

“The federal government has rapidly expanded MAiD and is currently considering expanding eligibility to those suffering from mental illness as their sole-underlying condition. Legislation introduced this sitting would create safeguards and ensure vulnerable Albertans are protected.”

According to Schow, Alberta will ban MAiD for minors, for those who have a mental illness, anyone making an advance request for the procedure, and for adults who do not have the mental capacity to make their own health-care choices.

While the current federal rules around MAiD already ban most of these conditions, there is a strong possibility this might not be the case in the future.

By making clear what is and is not allowed under provincial law, Schow said that the law would put a stop to MAiD being expanded in Alberta.

Schow also noted that extra oversight will be considered for medical professionals involved in MAiD.

For the past two years, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, head of the UCP, has promised that such legislation was coming.

Smith has not taken an official public stance on euthanasia. She took over the UCP on October 11, 2022, from Premier Jason Kenney, who strongly opposed euthanasia, after winning the leadership of the party.

It is important to note that the Catholic Church affirms the truth that euthanasia is immoral in all circumstances and would be outright illegal in a just society. 

Because MAiD is a federal law, provinces can regulate the procedure but can’t ban it outright.

In 2021, the federal government under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expanded euthanasia from killing “terminally ill” patients to allowing the chronically ill to qualify after the passage of Bill C-7. Since then, the government has sought to include those suffering solely from mental illness.

In February 2024, the federal government delayed the mental illness expansion until 2027 after pushback from pro-life, medical, and mental health groups as well as most of Canada’s provinces,

The Liberal government under Prime Minister Mark Carney, however, has worked to expand euthanasia 13-fold since it was legalized in 2016. Canada now has the fastest-growing assisted-suicide program in the world. Meanwhile, Health Canada released a series of studies on advanced requests for assisted suicide.

Euthanasia is now the sixth-highest cause of death in Canada after it was not listed in Statistics Canada’s top 10 leading causes of death from 2019 to 2022.