Euthanasia Activist in India Happy President Denied Request, Embraces Life

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Euthanasia Activist in India Happy President Denied Request, Embraces Life

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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
July 11, 2008



Chandigarh, India (LifeNews.com) -- Seema Sood made headlines worldwide when she sought permission from the president of India for a mercy killing. As with almost every nation in the world, India prohibits euthanasia and the request of the former well-educated engineer was declined.

Sood tells the Times of India she's glad her petition was rejected.

Just two years ago, Sood longed for death as a rheumatoid arthritis made it so the 37-year-old lost movement in all of her limbs for a period of 15 years.

Today, Sood is up and walking again, after a knee replacement surgery and she's thankful she's still alive.

"I regret the letter to the President," she told the newspaper. "Everything was so dark for me earlier, but I am excited about my mobility now and I am confident I will improve."

Sood is fortunate because the regional Himachal government and the alumni association at Pilani where she received two masters degrees have both agreed to help pay for more surgeries.

Sood will need several more procedures and six months to recover from them but then she will be able to resume teaching students math and science.

She tells the newspaper she's hopeful that others who suffer from similar conditions won't give up hope.

"Don't give up on life. That's what I say" she says.

Alison Davis of No Less Human, a British pro-life group, commented on the news.

"Euthanasia would have robbed Mrs. Sood of the chance to recover her love of life, and to benefit from the surgery which revolutionized her life, and no one would have known that life held something better for her in the future," she said.

"She is not the only vulnerable person who has changed her mind about wanting to die. I've been through the same experience myself," Davis, who has spina bifida added.

Davis said euthanasia "allows for no changes of mind" and worried it is becoming the "philosophy of despair" for the sick, the disabled and the elderly.