Nathaniel Report looks at referendums, youth suicide and Covid-19 vaccine ethics
The latest issue of the Nathaniel Report is available online, filled with topical articles that include scrutiny of the euthanasia and cannabis referendums being held at the same time as the October 17 general election.
The Nathaniel Report is published by the Catholic bishops’ Nathaniel Centre for Bioethics. Because of the Covid-19 restrictions, this issue – number 61 – is being published electronically, though printed copies will still be available in parishes and other usual places.
In one article, Dangerous and Unwise, Nathaniel Centre director John Kleinsman describes flaws in the End of Life Choice Act 2019 that is the subject of one of the referendums.
Readers are offered resources to help them with both referendums, providing background information, key issues and information to consider when deciding how to vote.
In another article, Victoria University education lecturer Chris Bowden shares insights from in-depth research he carried out with young men who lost close friends through suicide. He conveys the different kinds of silence the young men described, and the different roles these silences played in their grief.
And equally topically, Australians Kevin McGovern and Kerri Anne Brussen look at the historical origins of vaccines and ask a critical moral question: “How would we respond if the only viable vaccine for Covid-19 was based on a cell line that used cells derived from aborted fetuses?” Their answer may surprise you.
Click to read your copy of Nathaniel Report 61 in PDF format.