Rachel's Story

WRITTEN BY:

Heather Major

READ TIME:

2 Mins

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"If you're like me and you're a first-time voter, I really challenge you to get informed and educated on this really important issue (euthanasia)."

You couldn’t find a more fired up high schooler than Rachel Major when it comes to talking about the End of Life Choice Act and voting in the binding referendum this September.

And that makes sense when you hear Rachel’s story – her dad Glenn died when she was nine years old after a long journey with brain cancer. Glenn was diagnosed five years before Rachel was born but outlived his prognosis several times, baffling doctors.

Now the head girl of Waikato Diocesan School for Girls is calling on other young adults and high schoolers who will be voting for the first time in this election to get informed - especially about the EOLC Act. 

“Most young people I’ve spoken to have no idea there is a binding referendum, let alone what assisted dying or the End of Life Choice Act is.”

Rachel, who takes media studies at school, has interviewed over 100 fellow students as part of her research for a documentary proposal project.

The result: “Most people couldn’t define what euthanasia was”. 

“A lot of students had an opinion but it was based on what they had heard, what their parents had said, personal experience watching someone close to them die, or because they agree with the principle that everyone should have a choice,” Rachel says.

“But most of them also did not know what we already have available around the end of life care, or what euthanasia actually is… and they had no idea what the End of Life Choice Act says.”

This is something that really concerns Rachel as she says that’s the question we need to answer at this election, not if we agree with assisted dying or not, but if the End of Life Choice Act should be legalised.