Okay, so then I feel safer to question you. I thank you for writing, because it's very challenging to read what you write.
When I try to wrestle with the concept of “respect for life”, is it not as much a code term, as with different religions filled with different beliefs or different sets of understanding? There are some religions which believe, for instance, that the death penalty for killing a policeman who is exercising their function is acceptable, and the same for a soldier. There are others who have the position, in terms of abortion, that it's okay for a short period but not after another period. Then there are other religions that would accept the concept of what is in PAD and so forth.
A respect for life is, in other words, a concept that could be filled by different content. In fact, it could have a religious substance. It could also have no religious substance. There are people who advocate respect for life even though they don't believe in any god. I would say it's difficult to follow you on that word because it is a word that opens a lot of avenues in front of us. I prefer, in a way, to follow the Supreme Court proposal, in a decision that it made almost at the same time as you published your article in mid-October, in le Mouvement laïque québécois in Quebec. I'm sure you know the decision. I want to quote just three lines of that Supreme Court decision, which illustrates my quandary about the concept of respect for life: “A neutral public space free from coercion, pressure and judgment on the part of public authorities in matters of spirituality is intended to protect every person's freedom and dignity...”.
It seems to me that's where we are wrestling with this concept of physician-assisted death. The state doesn't compel anyone to impose that. A doctor is free not to practise it; a person who feels it is not in sync with his or her belief is not compelled to have it, and so forth. Protecting the vulnerable; we all accept that. How can we reconcile your respect for life—