To Live Each Day With Dignity

Details: 24 June 2011

In one of his Terminator movies, Arnold Schwarzenegger uttered one of his famous lines: "I’ll be baack." Unfortunately, the assisted suicide movement seems to be saying the same thing.

In 1994, the citizens of Oregon voted to legalize physician assisted suicide (PAS) and PAS proponents hoped this would trigger a domino effect with similar laws in other states. Fortunately, this did not happen, despite similar attempts in several other states. In fact, many states went the opposite way and explicitly banned PAS.

In 2008, however, PAS advocates struck again with a successful ballot initiative in the state of Washington, passing a law like Oregon’s. The following year, Montana’s Supreme Court ruled that PAS for terminally ill patients is not always against public policy.

These events, along with expanded funding from wealthy donors, have breathed new life into the PAS movement. PAS groups are embarking on a new, aggressive campaign using legislation, litigation and advertising to target additional states that may be most receptive to their agenda.

This "renewed threat to human dignity" is the impetus for a newly approved statement on physician-assisted suicide by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. It was approved last week by the Bishops at their meeting in, ironically, the state of Washington.

The statement, entitled "To Live Each Day with Dignity", explains this "renewed threat" and then counters the claims by PAS proponents that their agenda is driven by a desire for freedom and compassion. The statement provides three responses to PAS advocate’s "illusion of freedom."

"First, medical professionals recognize that people who take their own lives commonly suffer from a mental illness, such as clinical depression… People who request death are vulnerable. They need care and protection. To offer them lethal drugs is a victory not for freedom but for the worst form of neglect."

"Second, even apparently free choices may be unduly influenced by the biases and wishes of others…This biased judgment is fueled by the excessively high premium our culture places on productivity and autonomy, which tends to discount the lives of those who have a disability or are dependent on others.

"If these persons say they want to die, others may be tempted to regard this not as a call for help but as the reasonable response to what they agree is a meaningless life…In short, the assisted suicide agenda promotes a narrow and distorted notion of freedom, by creating an expectation that certain people, unlike others, will be served by being helped to choose death.

Third, both our founding fathers and our Christian faith identify the right to life as the first and most basic human right. "Therefore one cannot uphold human freedom and dignity by devaluing human life. A choice to take one’s life is a supreme contradiction of freedom, a choice to eliminate all choices."

The statement also responds to the "false compassion" espoused by PAS proponents. "True compassion alleviates suffering while maintaining solidarity with those who suffer. It does not put lethal drugs in their hands and abandon them to their suicidal impulses, or to the self-serving motives of others who may want them dead. It helps vulnerable people with their problems instead of treating them as the problem."

Finally, the statement discusses a "better way to address the needs of people with serious illnesses." "Our society should embrace what Pope John Paul II called ‘the way of love and true mercy’—a readiness to surround patients with love, support, and companionship, providing the assistance needed to ease their physical, emotional, and spiritual suffering. This approach must be anchored in unconditional respect for their human dignity, beginning with respect for the inherent value of their lives."

The statement and other excellent educational resources on this topic are available on the U.S. Bishops’ website at http://www.usccb.org/toliveeachday/.

You can contact Greg at The Nebraska Catholic Conference, 215 Centennial Mall South Suite 310, Lincoln, NE 68508; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.