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This edition of the Life Issues Forum is available in English and has been posted to our website, where its Spanish translation will be posted when it is available.
The Life Issues Forum is a bi-weekly column by
Pro-Life Secretariat staff addressing the latest issues on the culture
of life. Columns may be reprinted as they appear here (in full and
without alteration) without further permission.
In Christ,
The Pro-Life Secretariat
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LIFE ISSUES FORUM FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Going to Battle against Assisted Suicide April 21, 2017 By Greg Schleppenbach 
The campaign to legalize doctor-prescribed suicide has been
wisely rejected by most policymakers in our society. Most people,
regardless of religious affiliation, know that suicide is a terrible
tragedy, one that a compassionate society should work to prevent. They
realize that allowing doctors to prescribe the means for any of their
patients to kill themselves is a corruption of the healing art.
But assisted suicide proponents like the deceptively-named group "Compassion & Choices" (C&C) have
renewed their aggressive nationwide campaign through legislation,
litigation, and public advertising, targeting states they see as most
susceptible to their message. So the battle against doctor-assisted
suicide continues to rage on many fronts.
In 1994, Oregon became the first state to legalize
doctor-assisted suicide. The assisted suicide campaign has since
advanced to legalize the deadly practice in Washington, Vermont,
California, Colorado, and the District of Columbia. Montana's highest
court, while not officially legalizing the practice, suggested in 2009
that it could be allowed under certain circumstances.
Assisted suicide advocates got similar legislation introduced
in 27 states this year. Thankfully, many of these bills have been, or
likely will be, defeated. But several states still face serious threats,
including Hawaii, Maine, New York, and New Jersey. They are also
turning to courts to overturn laws banning the practice, with lawsuits
pending in New York, Hawaii, and Massachusetts.
The U.S. Congress was drawn into the debate when Washington,
D.C.'s City Council passed a law legalizing assisted suicide in November
2016. Our Constitution gives Congress ultimate control
over D.C. laws and efforts to nullify are underway. But since Congress
has not addressed assisted suicide for many years, members need basic
education from constituents about why assisted suicide is dangerous for
patients and their families.
Another battle ground is in the medical profession itself. Long-held
opposition to assisted suicide by medical associations has been
essential to preserving laws against the practice. That is why C&C
is infiltrating medical associations and urging them to abandon opposition and adopt a position of neutrality.The
move to neutrality by medical associations in Oregon, Vermont, and
California helped pave the way for legalization of assisted suicide in
those states. And now the American Medical Association is considering
whether to change its decades-long position against assisted suicide to
one of neutrality.
One way to counter the C&C effort is by asking our
doctors their position on assisted suicide. If they oppose it, thank
them for their stance and urge them to speak out against the practice
with their medical associations, their state legislature and with
Congress. If the answer is "support," try to change their minds--and if
they won't, find a new doctor, letting your former doctor know why you
left.
Euphemistic terms like "aid in dying," "compassion," and
"choice" cloak the reality that assisted suicide is a deadly act:
doctors prescribing a lethal drug for suicide by overdose. Far from
fostering compassion or choice, assisted suicide fosters discrimination
by creating two classes of people: those whose suicides we work hard to
prevent and those whose suicides we assist.
Evidence shows that legalizing assisted suicide can reduce
access to quality end-of-life care, put pressure on patients and their
families, and open them up to abuses from insurance companies, among
many other dangers. Your help is needed to expose these and other
dangers. Equip yourself with fact sheets, videos, and other resources
available at www.usccb.org/toliveeachday, www.patientsrightscouncil.org, and www.patientsrightsaction.
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