Adopted by the 70th WMA General Assembly, Tbilisi, Georgia, October 2019
The WMA reiterates its strong commitment to the principles of medical ethics and that utmost respect has to be maintained for human life. Therefore, the WMA is firmly opposed to euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide.
For the purpose of this declaration, euthanasia is defined as a physician deliberately administering a lethal substance or carrying out an intervention to cause the death of a patient with decision-making capacity at the patient’s own voluntary request. Physician-assisted suicide refers to cases in which, at the voluntary request of a patient with decision-making capacity, a physician deliberately enables a patient to end his or her own life by prescribing or providing medical substances with the intent to bring about death.
No physician should be forced to participate in euthanasia or assisted suicide, nor should any physician be obliged to make referral decisions to this end.
Separately, the physician who respects the basic right of the patient to decline medical treatment does not act unethically in forgoing or withholding unwanted care, even if respecting such a wish results in the death of the patient.
Pornography has been declared a public health crisis in many states and countries. We cannot close our eyes to the devastating consequences it has on individuals and societies. The statistics are overwhelming.
The Proven Men Porn Survey, conducted by the Barna Group in 2014, found that 64 percent of U.S. men view pornography monthly, with that figure increasing to 79 percent for men between the ages of 18-30. Also, 34 percent of women age 18-30 view pornography monthly. 55 percent of men of 18-30 said they first encountered pornography before the age of 12, while 25 percent of women did.
One pornography website found that it had 64 million global visitors per day, and that nearly 92 billion videos had been viewed in the past year.
The industry feeding these habits is correspondingly large. In 2006, the whole sex industry was estimated to be about $13 billion. (1)
Lawmakers in the USA in the states of South Dakota, Virginia and Tennessee have affirmed the public harm of pornography. (1)
It’s hard to deny that it is wrecking marriages and that people are enslaved to it. The American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers in a 2003 survey found that in 56 percent of divorce cases, one spouse had an obsessive interest in online pornography. A study published in 2016 found that divorce rates nearly doubled for men and nearly tripled for women who began watching pornography during their marriage. (1)
It is especially our children who are the most vulnerable. They need to be protected from this harmful practice.
The sad fact however, is that some people who are supposed to protect the children are wolves in sheep’s clothing. If you follow the news you will find that the many people standing trail for pornography are often teachers, fathers, grandfathers, pastors, cabinet ministers, social workers, bishops, law enforcement officers, nursery school caretakers and the like.
Something is drastically wrong in our societies and we must to take a good look at ourselves. Are we part of the problem or are we part of the solution?