|
|
Pro-Life Update Physician-assisted suicide has been in the news a lot lately. Right to Die and Death with Dignity proponents are pushing to change the language of the debate. This is very dangerous, as they wish to disguise what they are really discussing—suicide. California is now considering a bill that would legalize assisted suicide, just as in Oregon. Again, this could be very harmful to Americans. We must send a message of love and compassion to our elderly and disabled citizens. Fortunately—and contrary to our expectations—Vermont has just defeated a similar assisted suicide bill. We hope that Pro-Life grassroots activists in California will be as successful in stopping this threat.
Please read this issue of the Pro-Life Update carefully to understand some of the challenges we now face and how you—an educated Pro-Lifer—can advance the Culture of Life. Please share this information with your family, friends, and church congregations. Make copies. Spread the news.
Euthanasia: Deconstruction of Language Euthanasia is a growing problem in the United States and across the world. Physician-assisted suicide was legalized in Oregon in 1994 (and later implemented in 1997), introducing sanctioned euthanasia to the United States.
Right to Die groups have realized that promoting suicide is not acceptable to most of the American public. Their new focus, then, is to euphemize the term “physician-assisted suicide,” which has become “physician-assisted dying” or “aid-in-dying.” Some physicians have even suggested that life-sustaining treatment be called death-prolonging. They are also attempting to convince leading medical organizations to take positions of “studied neutrality,” which means that they are not supporting or opposing physician-assisted suicide. Unfortunately, many organizations have already accepted this deconstruction of language.
The American Public Health Association (APHA) has urged educators, policy-makers, health care providers, and journalists to adopt the terms “aid-in-dying” or “patient-directed dying.” If this language is confirmed by the APHA governing council in 2007, then the language will become official. Also, the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Physicians has “gone neutral” on assisted suicide and has taken a position of “studied neutrality.” Those workers who should be ensuring that American citizens are receiving proper pain control and emotional support at the end of their lives are not taking any stance against the uncaring act of assisted suicide.
Right to Die in California Right to Die advocates in California hope to follow in the footsteps of Oregon: The California Legislature is now considering a bill to legalize physician-assisted suicide (AB374). This measure is the fourth such bill that California has seen in eight years.
Right to Die legislation would change the way society perceives people at the end of their lives and also disabled and suffering people. One concern with legalized assisted suicide is that suicide will become a mere medical treatment, which should then be available to other people who have not been diagnosed with a terminal illness.
This has already happened internationally: In February 2007, the Swiss Supreme Court ruled that a depressed man suffering with bipolar disease had a right to assisted suicide. The International Herald Tribune reported that the court said, “It must be recognized that an incurable, permanent, serious mental disorder can cause similar suffering as a physical [disorder], making life appear unbearable to the patient in the long term.” More than 10 years ago in the Netherlands, the Dutch Supreme Court ruled that doctors could facilitate death for the depressed and grieving.
Right to Die advocates turn to the statistics in Oregon to prove that this will not happen in the United States. However, Oregon does not directly oversee the assisted suicide practices; they rely entirely on self-reporting by doctors. Also, interestingly, after each annual report is published, all of the supporting data are destroyed.
Although the Right to Die advocates will likely cast this debate as the conservative Catholic Church versus rational moderates (as they have in the past), the coalition in opposing California’s AB374 is quite diverse. As in Texas, the disability rights advocates are the most vocal and effective voice in thwarting euthanasia by doctors. While overwhelmingly secular in perspective, liberal in politics, and pro-choice on abortion, most disability rights advocates vehemently oppose assisted suicide. Civil rights activists; medical, nursing, and hospice professionals; advocates for the poor; and religious conservatives will all fight this legislation.
Vermont House of Representatives Defeats Assisted Suicide Bill In March 2007, the Vermont House of Representatives defeated an Assisted Suicide bill (H44) by a vote of 82-63. Even just a couple weeks prior to the vote, it seemed that only a miracle could defeat this bill. According to Vermont Right to Life Executive Director Mary Hahn Beerworth, “the State House handled a record number of phone calls in the weeks leading up to the debate on the House floor—and it has been widely reported that the calls ran 10 to 1 against passage of H44.”
Many of the legislators changed their minds at the last minute, having second thoughts. One representative changed her mind on the floor as she listened to the debate and worried if there were enough safeguards to prevent abuse of the law. “If legislation to legalize assisted suicide can be beaten in Vermont,” Beerworth declared, “it can be beaten anywhere!”
The Pro-Life movement still has much work to ensure that all people throughout the world are welcomed into Life and respected. If you would like any additional information on the topics discussed above, please send me a note or log onto www.TexasRightToLife.com. If you ever have questions about any Pro-Life issues, please be sure to let me know. Yours for Life, Dr. Joseph M. Graham President |
