Senator Marco Rubio is questioning Pfizer, a New York-based pharmaceutical company, over a new report which has exposed the corporation’s donations to Dying with Dignity Canada, a pro-assisted suicide advocacy group.
A donor listing revealed that Pfizer has given money to the organization, though Dying with Dignity Canada claimed in a statement to CBC News that the donation given was a mere $50. Sarah Dobec, a spokesperson for Dying With Dignity Canada, claimed it was part of an employee matching contribution. “Which is why they [Pfizer] are named on our 2022 donor listing,” she said.
Despite this claim, Senators Rubio, Ted Cruz, J.D. Vance, Josh Hawley, and Mike Braun and Representatives Brad Wenstrup and Chris Smith signed onto a letter written to Pfizer CEO Dr. Albert Bourla demanding answers, including on whether or not Pfizer supports assisted suicide:
[M]edically assisted death requires the use of drugs that have not been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for this purpose. Pfizer manufactures many of the drugs that are used off-label for medically assisted death, such as cisatracurium besylate, diazepam, fentanyl, and midazolam.
In 2021, Pfizer issued a statement opposing the use of its products to administer lethal injections of prisoners, but the company has not released a statement opposing the use of similar drugs for “medically assisted death.” The practice of “medically assisted death” contradicts Pfizer’s stated purpose of “delivering breakthroughs to change patients’ lives.”
Your company is dismantling public trust in our nation’s health system by supporting an organization that aims to take the lives of young children.
The Canadian government has moved to allow children and people with mental illness to qualify for Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID), though there has been pushback. Canada also uses taxpayer money to fund assisted suicide research groups, and is the world leader in euthanasia of incarcerated people. On the European continent, children in Belgium have been euthanized, and the Netherlands also recently approved a law allowing euthanasia for certain children.
Alex Schadenberg, executive director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, further criticized Pfizer for the donations, and joined the call for answers. “Canada’s euthanasia lobby is receiving significant money from Canada’s federal government,” he wrote, “and it is clearly not appropriate for Pfizer, that produces end-of-life drugs to be donating to the euthanasia lobby and as stated by the Senators, it would be even more inappropriate if Pfizer is donating money obtained from the US government to donate to Canada’s euthanasia lobby.”
