“Assisted suicide” is skyrocketing in New Zealand, but the nation’s left-wing government insists that it’s still not enough as politicians push for steeper rises in the number of citizens being euthanized.
According to the most recent government report from the nation’s “Assisted Dying Service,” covering April 2024 to March 2025, 472 people were killed through assisted suicide or euthanasia in just one year.
The figure is a steep jump from 344 the year prior.
Active cases have also surged, rising from 945 to 1,137.
The vast majority of those deaths, 441 out of 472, were carried out through lethal injections administered by taxpayer-funded government doctors.
Only a small fraction of patients involved in the practice are triggering the act themselves, underscoring that New Zealand’s system overwhelmingly relies on euthanasia rather than assisted suicide.
The data mirrors trends in Canada, where bureaucrats market the practice under the euphemism “MAiD” but in reality conduct widespread euthanasia.
The report raises serious concerns about oversight and ethics.
According to the data, 21% of applicants were not receiving palliative care, 12% were disabled, and only 10 of more than 1,100 active applicants received a psychiatric evaluation to determine competency or screen for coercion.
Even more troubling, just 126 medical professionals in the entire country agreed to take part in assisted deaths, indicating that the vast majority of doctors remain unwilling to participate in killing their patients.
As Alex Schadenberg of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition has warned, “most medical professionals are unwilling to kill their patients.”
Yet politicians and activists continue to expand the practice, raising questions about whether real safeguards exist at all.
Investigative journalist Alexander Raikin documented similar abuses in Canada, reporting that as many as one-quarter of euthanasia providers in Ontario may have violated the nation’s Criminal Code.
His question in response — “Does anyone care?” — applies just as much to New Zealand’s trajectory.
Meanwhile, Canada offers a grim preview of where New Zealand may be headed.
When Canada legalized euthanasia in 2016, supporters promised it would only apply to the terminally ill.
But the program expanded rapidly.
Within a few years, eligibility was broadened to include people with chronic conditions, disabilities, and even those struggling with poverty.
In 2024, Canada faced international condemnation after reports surfaced of veterans being offered euthanasia instead of treatment, and of citizens seeking assisted death because they could not secure affordable housing.
Plans to expand the program further to include those with mental illness as the sole qualifying condition sparked outrage, yet the political momentum for expansion has continued.
New Zealand’s rising numbers and political pressure for more access mirror Canada’s early years, suggesting that the so-called “safeguards” will not hold.
Once the principle is accepted that the state can sanction killing in the name of compassion, the boundaries inevitably erode.
New Zealand legalized euthanasia and assisted suicide in November 2021, after the “End of Life Choices” Act passed narrowly in Parliament and was ratified by a national referendum.
At the time, supporters insisted the law was tightly restricted, limited only to patients with terminal illnesses expected to result in death within six months.
But critics warned that once legalized, activists would inevitably demand broader access.
Now, those warnings are being vindicated.
David Seymour, leader of the left-wing ACT Party and the original sponsor of the law, has admitted that the legislation was a “political compromise” and is openly calling for expansion.
In other words, the narrow restrictions sold to the public were never intended to remain in place; they were simply the first step.
The steady increase in state-sanctioned deaths, combined with political calls for even more, suggests that the rhetoric about “safeguards” and “choice” was always hollow.
In practice, many people appear to be choosing euthanasia not because of unbearable pain, but because of lack of care, lack of support, or pressure from circumstances.
As reports mount from across Western nations embracing assisted suicide regimes, the pattern is unmistakable.
Once legalized, euthanasia programs always grow, oversight remains weak, and politicians show little interest in protecting the vulnerable.
The question for New Zealand, and for other nations watching closely, is whether leaders actually believe their own promises about “choice” and “safeguards,” or whether they’re simply getting the results they want.
READ MORE – Canada Moves to Begin Euthanizing Children Without Parental Consent
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