Here’s an interesting development in the normalization of euthanasia. A website supported by Health Canada, Canadian Virtual Hospice, has produced an activity book to explain euthanasia and assisted suicide to children.

The brightly coloured downloadable PDF explains Medical Assistance in Dying in language that children aged 6 to 12 can understand. Can I change her mind? The booklet answers:

It can be very hard to hear other people disagree or even argue about MAiD. Sometimes people feel like they need to choose whose “side” they’re on, or they feel bad about agreeing with one person and not another. They may feel stuck in the middle or wish they could fix it, even though no one can make another person change their mind or their feelings.

Bioethics writer Wesley J. Smith criticized the booklet as potentially damaging to children:

It not only ends the life of despairing people who are abandoned by the “It’s your choice” deflection, but as this book illustrates, has the potential to seriously impact the emotional well-being of children in the family who watch as their loved one’s killing is discussed, planned, and executed. If I were a kid and that happened to somebody I loved, I’d never want to see a doctor again. Good grief.