Gareth Kirk

[ScottishFamilyParty @scotfamparty]

Vote Andy Brady!

[ScottishFamilyParty @scotfamparty]

BBC Bans Pro-life

[ScottishFamilyParty @scotfamparty]

Assisted suicide: What's the problem?
In Canada, veteran and Paralympian Christine Gauthier complained that the home wheelchair ramp she was entitled to still had not been fitted after five years of asking. She received a letter back saying, based on the pain she was in, she would be entitled to MAID (medical assistance in dying). She was told this could be arranged for her.

https://t.co/Y6owDdUJsY

One problem with assisted suicide is many who stand to gain. In some cases, pressure will come from a cheating partner; in others, a selfish child. The state perhaps has most to gain: it no longer has to pay a pension or provide health care. The cash-strapped state might take every opportunity to remind you of your rights. Due to an aging population there will be tremendous pressure on hospital beds and services for the elderly.

There could be peer pressure too. A close friend's daughter is finally able to get on the housing ladder; you suspect this was part of your friend's calculation in ending her own life early. Your child is in a similar situation.

Doubtless once available assisted suicide will form part of plot in every TV soap. The nation will watch as much loved characters take the "brave and dignified" step of assisted suicide.

Environmental groups might leave you feeling it is time you left your last carbon footprint.

A Canadian brand glamourised assisted suicide in a fashion advert. A woman that is now deceased, surrounded by well dressed relatives says:

"Now as I seek help to end my life, there is just so much beauty. You just have to be brave enough to see it."

This is being used to try to sell clothes.

https://t.co/nglJPfi64m

There will, of course, be rules about who is eligible for assisted suicide. However, these will be progressively relaxed. The Canadian rules state:

You do not need to have a fatal or terminal condition to be eligible for medical assistance in dying. If your only medical condition is a mental illness, you are not eligible for medical assistance in dying until March 17, 2027.

The conditions for assisted suicide in Canada are as follows. You must:

a) have a serious illness, disease or disability
b) be in an advanced state of decline that cannot be reversed
c) experience unbearable physical or mental suffering from your illness, disease, disability or state of decline that cannot be relieved under conditions that you consider acceptable

This must be certified by two medical doctors. However each of these conditions is subjective. It sounds like strong protection until you realise the similarities to the UK rules surrounding abortion:

Abortion is illegal up to 24 weeks of pregnancy unless two doctors agree that:

The continuance of the pregnancy would involve risk, greater than if the pregnancy were terminated, of injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman or any existing children of her family.

In practice, this means abortion on demand up to 24 weeks for any and every reason. Obtaining two signatures is just a formality. Lethal pills are now sent by post after a brief phone call. There were 267,000 abortions in the UK in 2022 the majority via pills by post. For every three lives born in the UK, two are now killed in the womb. This is not the "safe, legal, and rare" one politician promised.

If we open the door to assisted dying in the UK, we are really opening a floodgate. The annual number of abortions performed in Scotland increased 10% last year and 19% the year before. A vast proportion of abortions are for economic reasons. Do we really want to see this happen to the elderly and infirm?

None of the following oppose assisted suicide: Conservatives, Reform, Labour, SNP, Greens, Lib Dems & Alba. To keep the door shut, vote for the Scottish Family Party.

[Gareth Kirk @GarethKirk]

@scotfamparty Keen to chat more on what we can do to make a difference in our economy. Maybe next time.

[LifeNews.com @LifeNewsHQ]

Here's a tired 14 week-old unborn baby rubbing his or her eyes.

Where's the clump of cells they keep talking about?

[Gareth Kirk @GarethKirk]

@scotfamparty Very interesting.

[ScottishFamilyParty @scotfamparty]

A Scottish woman's personal story:

"My name is Marion Wilson. In 1989 I was living very happily with my partner Jim Wilson and our daughter, Emma, aged 12 months. I was 33 years old and pregnant with our second child. On attendance at the Southern General Maternity Hospital in Glasgow, I had the usual scan at around 3 ½ months and at this time they took blood from me as routine (I didn’t think to questions this or to think I had a choice). From my first pregnancy, I was aware that this was to check to see if there were any abnormalities in my baby. I hadn’t really thought about what I would do if I was told there was. I probably just expected there wouldn’t be.

However, a few weeks later I got a call to go into speak with the Consultant. I made the appointment and Jim and I were obviously quite worried as this hadn’t happened in my first pregnancy. The Consultant told us that the blood test results showed that I was at a very high risk of having a Downs Syndrome baby. Jim and I were shocked to hear this and couldn’t really take it in properly. I was around 4 ½ months pregnant at this time and the Consultant went on to tell me that I would need an Amniocentesis test which would tell me for definite whether my baby was okay or not. The Consultant explained the procedure to us and told us there was a slight risk to the baby, but not to worry as the risk was very small and that it far outweighed being able to know if our baby was okay or not. An appointment was made for around a week later and I attended and had the test taken. I was almost 5 months pregnant by this time and my baby was happily moving around inside me. I was told if all was okay I would receive a letter from them to tell me, but if there was a problem they would telephone me and have us come into speak to the Consultant again.

Around 3 weeks later I got a letter from the Hospital and I somehow felt it wasn’t going to be okay, even although they told me a letter would be good news. I opened it only to discover that the cells they had removed hadn’t grown. They said it was very rare for this to happen and they were sorry that it had happened to me. They told me to phone to make an appointment to come in to speak to the Consultant again. I took a bad chest infection, so by the time I saw the Consultant I was almost 6 months pregnant. The Consultant spoke to Jim and I and said he was so sorry that the cells hadn’t grown. (I believed this meant there was definitely something wrong with my baby. I didn’t realise it had nothing to do with that). The Consultant said he felt that, because of the results of the first test, we should seriously consider having a termination, as not only was there a high chance of having a Down Syndrome child, but they were often born with serious heart problems and didn’t live long. If not, we should consider all the other challenges of having a child with a disability, especially as we already had a child to look after and there was still time to have another and that it didn’t mean that any future pregnancy would have the same result as this one. It was a Friday when we saw him and he said he would give us until Monday to decide and, if I was going ahead with the abortion, then I would be taken in on the Wednesday to have the procedure. He further explained that, because of how far on I was, they couldn’t just remove the foetus. Instead, I would have to go through labour and give birth and the foetus would be taken away immediately. I remember thinking at the time that it wasn’t a foetus, it was our child and was already very well developed at that stage. I could even see its feet sticking through the skin of my stomach. I was slim and had no weight gain at all...just a small bump, so it was easy to feel and see our baby moving around.

Having already gone through labour with my first child, I knew exactly what that would be like (It took 24 hours and was pretty traumatic, but the reward was wonderful). However, this time there would be no baby to hold. Jim and I were quite stunned and upset and had no one to discuss things further with. Once we both began to talk about our choices, we quickly discovered that we were both feeling the same way. This was our baby and we would be killing it if we went through with a termination. That was the used word back then and it did conjure up a knowledge of there being “no going back”. We felt we had already bonded with our child and had been speaking to it, and it would kick and move when we spoke. We were both very emotional and knew we might live to regret it if we went ahead. Also, there was still a very small chance the baby would be okay, although deep down we didn’t really think it would be. So, we decided to base our decision on that.

At the time, we were both for abortion and believed it should be each individual’s choice. However, we quickly realised that it wasn’t going to be our choice. We didn’t know if we were making the right decision, or if we could even cope with a Downs child, but we had to go with what was the strongest feeling we both felt.

We met with the Consultant on the Monday and gave him our decision and I felt he was quite shocked when we told him, but he didn’t try to change our minds.

My pregnancy went along as normal. It was exactly the same as my first, so I thought I was probably having another girl. I went into labour on 21st Jan and had our child 36 agonising hours later on 22 Jan 1990. It was a boy and he seemed perfectly healthy but the Consultant said they would have to take him away to check him out to be fully sure he wasn't Downs Syndrome. By this time I didn’t care if he was or not, I loved him, so did Jim. Soon after, the Consultant returned with Mark and said he was pleased to tell us he was perfectly normal and fit and healthy. It was a relief, as we knew it wouldn’t have been an easy journey for us all, especially as we didn't have any back up or help from anyone else.

A few weeks later, as I was sitting breast feeding my baby boy, I remember wondering if I’d had the abortion and he was born alive, (although probably unable to survive at 6 months), would they have done the tests then and told me he was actually okay after all? I doubted it very much. I believe he would have been whipped away and, if alive, would just have been left to die. That sends chills down my spine. He is now 34 and a lovely young man with many dreams still to fulfil ahead.

Jim and I were both staunch atheists, and vocally against any so-called gods, but 5 years later in 1995 we found God (another long story) on the same night, although apart from each other. We found Jesus together 4 months later and He began to reveal ourselves to us and we asked Him for forgiveness and repented from all we knew we had done wrong. Although we were victims of many unfortunate circumstances, we were no longer victims, but victors. Our lives saved by our Saviour who had been with us and keeping us going all along. We didn’t feel we were Church type people so said we would probably never go to Church. Four months later we almost ran in the doors of a Church and were welcomed with great love and we were married there two years later. What a journey it has been ever since. There would never be enough time to tell it all and no doubt there is still much ahead.

About six months into our new relationship with God, He showed us that abortion... termination of a child's life... is actually murder and not acceptable at any stage of a pregnancy. We believe the mother’s so-called “rights” ended the day she became pregnant with a new life, no matter the circumstances. We believe it should be against the law and, if found guilty of taking a child’s life, then it should be a criminal offence. Just as it would be if you killed a baby already born. We also fully understand the difficulties faced by a single mother, or parents who cannot afford to have any more children, or a woman who was raped, or parents faced with having a disabled child. These things are part of life, and it’s not easy, but with God’s help and often with help from Gods people, difficulties can be got through.

Life is precious, and each one of us are unique. We are all here for a purpose, and to have a relationship with God is part of that purpose. I pray anyone reading this is blessed by God and would ask Him to help them with any decisions they need to make. We are not meant to get through this life in our own strength, not when there is a God with a power greater than ours waiting and willing to help us...and He makes a much better job than we ever could."

Marion Wilson

[Gareth Kirk @GarethKirk]

Windows XP lives on… this is inside the latest Edinburgh Trams. Someone has to keep this version of Windows alive… 😀 Shows how good it was, Microsoft just can’t see the end of it.

[ScottishFamilyParty @scotfamparty]

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[Gareth Kirk @GarethKirk]

#LitterLogger Another heavy bag at Dreghorn Woods. You would think after doing this 4 times we would be done, but seems there is always more when you start looking. Loads of building material bags in the water?

[Gareth Kirk @GarethKirk]

@muddypuddles Thank you muddy puddles for the super waterproof slide accelerating rain trousers! Rainy play for the win!

[Erik Rasmussen 👨‍💻🇺🇸🇪🇸 @erikras]

When the Senior Developer arrives to fix the bug...

[Gareth Kirk @GarethKirk]

Got called 4 times by an automated voice for scammers. Using legit telecom software I suspect, looking like a UK mobile. If social media agencies are being held to account for their content, then telecom providers need to be held to account for India Scam Call Centres !!!! #scams

[Nick Mabey @Mabeytweet]

New Green Finance Report by @LSDC argues for major new institution to fund a fair & fast climate transition in London is welcomed by ⁦@LDN_environment⁩. Now looking forward to designing detailed plans for implementation. ⁦@e3g⁩ ⁦@GFI_green⁩ #greenfinancelondon

[Gareth Kirk @GarethKirk]

#sustainable2020 #litterlogger
Getting excercise and making the world a better place. All in one day!

[Gareth Kirk @GarethKirk]

Interesting update if you are interested in the tram development. Thanks to Trinity Community Council for highlighting the site. #trinitycommunitycouncil https://t.co/jmbAo4qwv2

[Gareth Kirk @GarethKirk]

@LitterLogger Fantastic day today. This area has been bugging me for months!

[Gareth Kirk @GarethKirk]

Amazing how I can't bring myself to buy this simply because it has a plastic straw and cover. #StarbucksUK can we not get this in bottle form, and have a place to return the bottle. It almost just milk anyway. :-)

[Gareth Kirk @GarethKirk]

@kmf Aish, time goes by fast these days!

[Gareth Kirk @GarethKirk]

@Cynicster Well done, you skydived before I did! Would love to do that (when we come to visit) Do they do family events ;-)