Tuesday, April 6, 2021

Assisting a Suicide by Judie Brown

 

Assisting a Suicide

by Judie Brown



The term “assisted suicide” rolls right off the tongue. Merriam-Webster defines it as “suicide committed by someone with assistance of another person.” But what is it really?

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, suicide “contradicts the natural inclination of the human being to preserve and perpetuate his life. It is gravely contrary to the just love of self. It likewise offends love of neighbor because it unjustly breaks the ties of solidarity with family, nation, and other human societies to which we continue to have obligations. Suicide is contrary to love for the living God.”

This is why Fr. John Hardon, S.J. wrote: “God alone has the ownership of human life. Those who practice euthanasia assume the right of ownership over life. Therefore the sin committed is either murder or suicide.”

The fact that Fr. Hardon tied suicide to euthanasia gives us a clue about how the word is used today. In fact, Pope John Paul II made it crystal clear when he said that “suicide is always as morally objectionable as murder.” He pointed out what is blatantly ignored by those who promote euthanasia by calling it assisted suicide. According to Fr. Hardon: “To concur with the intention of another person to commit suicide and to help in carrying it out through so-called ‘assisted suicide’ means to cooperate in, and at times to be the actual perpetrator of, an injustice which can never be excused, even if it is requested. In a remarkably relevant passage Saint Augustine writes that ‘it is never licit to kill another: even if he should wish it, indeed if he requests it because, hanging between life and death, he begs for help in freeing the soul struggling against the bonds of the body and longing to be released; nor is it licit even when a sick person is no longer able to live.’”

The point is that no matter what you call the taking of the life of another—whether he is suffering from anguish, loneliness, terminal illness, or any number of psychological forms of depression—taking his life or encouraging him in any way to do so is a heinous crime against God. Murder is the proper name for it, though proponents of such acts deny that and actually accuse defenders of life of using scare tactics. Honesty is not the forte of those who promote forms of euthanasia.

The problem is that organizations supporting such acts and working tirelessly to make sure the laws of our nation protect what they are promoting are seeking the legal right to kill while calling it something else.

If you check out a pro-euthanasia website such as Compassion & Choices, you will find public opinion polls that agree with this pro-death posture. You will also discover that they say that medical aid in dying is neither assisted suicide nor euthanasia. Nonsense!

Catholic psychiatrist Aaron Kheriaty, MD, explains one of the reasons that causes people to commit suicide. He writes: “The vast majority of suicides are associated with some form of clinical depression, which in its more serious forms can be a sort of madness that drives people to despair—leading to a profound and painful sense of hopelessness and even delusional thinking about oneself, the world and the future.”

The individual who is clinically depressed, and to some degree mentally ill, is suffering from anguish and despair. This is not the patient that those who advocate assisted suicide are discussing. In fact, David Montgomery states that quite the opposite is true, saying: “Catholic, and I suspect all other Christian, bio-ethics recognizes that in the vast majority of cases, dying persons who choose suicide are not making such a choice. Many, perhaps all, are under such coercion from physical or psychological suffering, guilt for being a burden, or active pressure that they are not fully responsible for their actions. Thus nothing in the statement that suicide is wrong implies any judgment about an individual who makes that choice, but it does make it clear that we must try to prevent suicide in every possible way.”

Montgomery’s response is the one thing that proponents of euthanasia masked as assisted suicide will never say, namely that “the duty of the Christian and society is to provide the loving care for the dying that can make the choice of suicide no longer an issue.”

When St. John Paul taught that “true ‘compassion’ leads to sharing another’s pain; it does not kill the person whose suffering we cannot bear,” he affirmed the truth that assisting a suicide is cruel, inhumane, and evil.

Our challenge is to expose this, help others understand it, and end the deadly ruse.
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Saturday, April 3, 2021

Doctors who pressure moms to abort

 

The data mirrors the disturbing anecdotes


  • Every day in America, pregnant women wait for scan results.

Every day in America, pregnant women sit in their doctors’ offices, waiting for scan results. These mothers — no matter their age, race, or economic backgrounds — all hope to hear the same news: that their baby is healthy and growing right on track.

Hearing the all-clear, these moms can rejoice and continue with their medical appointments. However, for the women who receive less-clear news — or an outright distressing prenatal diagnosis — an already nerve-racking doctor’s visit can take on a nightmarish quality.

Not only must the mother face the possibility that her baby is in peril, but all too often she is subject to bullying, as the doctor to whom she has entrusted her body and her child attempts to push her toward abortion.

Doctors who pressure women to abort following the prenatal diagnosis are a problem rarely discussed. It was hammered home for me recently when a close friend, who is five months pregnant with a little boy, received a scan that raised some concerns. While she was still on the examination table, partially clothed, abdomen still covered in ultrasound jelly, her doctor brusquely began pressuring her to abort.

After being firmly told that abortion was not an option for her, the doctor continued to push it. We later marveled that, in a post-#MeToo era, a medical professional who primarily serves women could refuse to believe that no means no.

The doctor proceeded to explain it could potentially cost upwards of a million dollars to keep a sick or premature baby in the neonatal intensive care unit for three months. When this argument failed to sway her, he dismissively asked if she were religious.

I wish I could say that this repugnant and deeply misogynistic behavior is an aberration among doctors treating expectant mothers, but sadly, it is not. Since this incident, many friends and family have reached out with similar stories about how they (or a sister or a colleague) were pressured to abort when confronted with a challenging pregnancy.

The data mirrors the disturbing anecdotes: A study in the medical journal Prenatal Testing and Disability Rights found that a quarter of doctors admitted trying to influence a mother’s decision about whether or not to continue with her pregnancy when faced with a tough diagnosis. Most encouraged mothers to terminate….

The above comes from a March 31 commentary piece in the Daily Signal.

Every day in America, pregnant women wait for scan results.
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Thursday, April 1, 2021

LifeNews: Biden Secretary of State Says Killing Babies in Abortions is a “Human Right”

 



   
LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Thursday, April 1, 2021

To read the news, visit LifeNews.com.

Top Stories
• Biden Secretary of State Anthony Blinken Says Killing Babies in Abortions is a “Human Right”
• Sharon Stone Ended Her Baby’s Life in an Abortion, Then Found Out She Couldn’t Have Kids Again
• Pope Francis Mourns Millions of Babies Killed in Abortions, We Carry Their “Suffering” in Our Heart
• Brazil Leads Pro-Life Countries Fighting Back Against Joe Biden’s Global Abortion Agenda

More Pro-Life News
• Joe Biden’s Administration Thinks Killing Babies in Abortions is a “Human Right”
• SURPRISE: CW Show “Nancy Drew” Actually Mentions Planned Parenthood’s Racist Roots
• Court Dismisses Atheist’s Case Trying to Permanently Remove Courthouse Nativity Scene
• NBC News Anchor Lester Holt Defends Liberal Media Bias: “Fairness is Overrated”

• Scroll Down for Several More Pro-Life News Stories

AVOID SOCIAL MEDIA CENSORSHIP, FOLLOW LIFE NEWS ON GAB, PARLER AND MEWE!


Biden Secretary of State Anthony Blinken Says Killing Babies in Abortions is a “Human Right”

Joe Biden’s Secretary of State thinks killing innocent unborn children in abortions is somehow a “human right” even though abortions take human lives.

Sharon Stone Ended Her Baby’s Life in an Abortion, Then Found Out She Couldn’t Have Kids Again

Actress Sharon Stone’s new memoir, out this week, shares the pain and trauma that she experienced when she aborted her first child.


Pope Francis Mourns Millions of Babies Killed in Abortions, We Carry Their “Suffering” in Our Heart

Pope Francis remembered the millions of innocent unborn babies who are killed in abortions Wednesday in his Holy Week message about Christ’s sacrifice on the cross.


Abortion groups made no progress at UN headquarters in the first UN conference on women since Joe Biden was sworn-in as U.S. President.

Joe Biden’s Administration Thinks Killing Babies in Abortions is a “Human Right”

The Biden administration voiced its radical pro-abortion position to the world during the UN Human Rights Council’s adoption of the report of the third Universal Periodic Review .


 
The CW’s ghostly drama Nancy Drew, (based on the beloved series of children’s books), featured a historical mystery Wednesday night.


Court Dismisses Atheist’s Case Trying to Permanently Remove Courthouse Nativity Scene

A federal district court judge has dismissed a case in which an atheist group attempted to permanently remove a Nativity scene on government property.

NBC News Anchor Lester Holt Defends Liberal Media Bias: “Fairness is Overrated”

NBC News’s Lester Holt has some ideas about the media industry that only leftists are cheering about.




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