In a message dated 04/18/2001 9:22:55 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:

> What's euthanasia and abortion?  Who's Bouvier and Hawking?    Kathy

Hi Kathy!

Euthanasia is another name for "mercy killing."  Some people think it's a
good idea so that people who are very ill can die and end their suffering.
Some people don't approve of it because they don't approve of the taking of
life.

Abortion is when a pregnant woman stops her pregnancy.  She can go to a
doctor and have this done.  When it was illegal years ago, pregnant women who
wanted abortions would go to someone who performed them in secret.  This was
a very dangerous practice and some women died as a result.  Those kinds of
abortions are sometimes referred to as "back alley abortions" because they
were done in places that may not have been sanitary, and where there was not
proper medical care.

Bouvier -- Elizabeth Bouvier is someone with cerebral palsy.  Her disability
is severe.  In 1983 she asked for legal permission to stay in a hospital and
starve to death.  The court denied her request, and she later changed her
mind about wanting to die.  Some people think that being able to die was her
right, while others believe that the reason she wanted to die was because she
was not accepted in the nondisabled world, and that she needed help to live,
not help to die.

Her case made national headlines, and for a while a lot of people in the
United States and elsewhere knew about her and about the fact that she wanted
to die.

You can read more about Elizabeth Bouvier by going to this website:
http://normemma.com/ebouvia.htm

Hawking -- Stephen Hawking is a British theoretical physicist and
mathematician.  He has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), which is also
called Lou Gherig's disease since the major league baseball player, Lou
Gherig had it.  Dr. Hawking is famous because of his work in "space-time."

You can read more about Dr. Hawking by going to this website:
http://encarta.msn.com/find/Concise.asp?ti=011BE000

I hope this answers your questions Kathy.

Take care -- I hope you are doing well,
Betty