A series of anti-euthanasia videos are being released by the Archdiocese of Sydney, Australia, in anticipation of new laws in the state of Victoria that will allow both euthanasia and assisted suicide.

A group that favours the new laws questioned the relevance and accuracy of one of the videos that compared the state with Belgium and called for it to be taken down.

The Archdiocese however are standing over the video.

Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP said it was no surprise that proponents of the new laws, “are wanting to shut down any evidence of the alarming nature of the consequences of the legislation of euthanasia in other countries”.

“But we need to keep raising our voices in defence of the vulnerable, and to share the truth about the consequences of state-sanctioned killing. Now is not the time to be silent, or silenced,” he said.

A spokesperson for the archdiocese defended the ad saying that while the new legislation in Victoria might begin with a number of safeguards, “it’s impossible to stop the ball rolling on subsequent laws”.

“Euthanasia was originally sold to voters in countries such as Belgium as a voluntary option for a narrow group of terminally ill patients, but has resulted in a cascade of deaths where unconscious and non-consenting patients have been killed by doctors,” she said.

“Administering drugs with the explicit intention of hastening the end of life is euthanasia regardless of the spin activist organisations such as Go Gentle Australia wish to put on it,” the spokeswoman added.