A Merciful End: The Euthanasia
Movement in Modern America
Ian Dowbiggin
Reviewed in 2003 by Eileen Rebstock (with files from lifesite.net)
Despite its recent high profile, the North American euthanasia movement dates back to the beginning of the twentieth century. In A Merciful End, Ian Dowbiggin, Chair of the History Department at the University of Prince Edward Island, traces its history from its small beginnings to its present position as a popular social movement. Along the way, there are many surprises. Public support for euthanasia is not a recent phenomenon. In 1939, 40 percent of Americans supported the legalization of assisted suicide. Even more disturbingly, 1937 polls showed that 45% of the public supported the 'mercy killing' of seriously disabled newborns. Dowbiggin contends that if it hadn't been for the horrors of the Nazi Holocaust and Euthanasia Program, euthanasia in North America might have become a reality.
A Merciful End is the first scholarly history of the euthanasia movement. Most previous histories of the movement have been written from the viewpoint of euthanasia supporters and have invariably portrayed its history as the inevitable triumph of rationality over superstition and backwardness. Dowbiggin outlines the development of the ideas and assumptions that underlie euthanasia. The history of the euthanasia movement is intertwined with the history of eugenics, the belief that the human race can be improved by only allowing the ”fit‘ to reproduce. The cause of euthanasia has often been linked with the causes of eugenic sterilization and population control. Voluntary euthanasia, chosen by the individual, has always been shadowed by its dark twin, involuntary euthanasia. Prominent euthanasia advocates have promoted the killing of newborn handicapped infants, the disabled and the elderly.
Alex Schadenberg, executive director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, told Lifesite: "We recognize the importance of research that is being done and that needs to be done in order for us to effectively oppose the culture of death. It is important to understand the history of the Death with Dignity and Eugenics movements in order to effectively oppose their point of view."
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