They Want You To Kill Yourself

They Want You To Kill Yourself | Arland K. Nichols | Homiletic & Pastoral Review | April 2010

With faith and hope in Jesus and a firm resolve, it is not inevitable that PAS and euthanasia proponents will win the day.

The daunting specter of physician-assisted suicide (PAS) continues to loom in our country and throughout the world.1 At times it appears as though the culture of death will prevail in the minds of our people and in our laws. In November of 2008, Washington state joined Oregon as one of the two states that has legalized PAS by ballot initiatives, protecting physicians who prescribe a lethal dose of drugs to a patient seeking to kill himself. With the backing of millions of dollars, the initiative was passed with nearly a 6:4 margin. Since 1991, there have been six ballot initiatives seeking to legalize PAS in five states. (Washington voters had initially voted against PAS in 1999 at a 4:6 margin.) From January 1994 through June 2009 there have been 113 legislative proposals in twenty-four states. Thankfully, for various reasons, none have passed. However, in Montana (Baxter v. Montana), a district court legislated from the bench and determined that doctors may assist in suicides and be protected from liability. In December 2009, the Montana state supreme court upheld the ruling.

Since 1997, when the “Death with Dignity Act” took effect in Oregon, 629 lethal prescriptions have been written, with 407 individuals taking their own lives. The year 2008 saw a record number of individuals committing suicide by prescription overdose. On May 22, 2009, Linda Fleming became the first to kill herself under the new law in Washington. Sadly, more will soon follow. And, in Europe (which provided the model for the Oregon law), as of April 1, 2009, four countries offer protections to those who assist in suicides: the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and Switzerland. Efforts are underway in many countries to join their ranks, while thousands of Europeans have already taken their own lives. Finally, countless thousands upon thousands have been negatively influenced and convinced that PAS is a morally acceptable exercise of freedom and choice.

This is a disappointing, sobering and urgent situation. Pope John Paul II described euthanasia and PAS as “one of the more alarming symptoms of the ‘culture of death,’ which is advancing above all in prosperous societies,” is “senseless and inhumane” and “an injustice which can never be excused.”2 With faith and hope in Jesus and a firm resolve, it is not inevitable that PAS and euthanasia proponents will win the day. However, given the urgency of the situation, we as pastors, educators and pastoral ministers must act decisively and consistently. I believe that we can win the day if we seek to educate our people in three key areas. First, we must foster awareness of the root mentalities and characteristics of the culture of death. Knowing the mentalities of the culture of death will allow us to eradicate them from our own minds and hearts, equip us to root them out of our families, and influence society as a whole. Second, our flocks should be aware of the corrosive and underhanded tactics of the proponents of PAS and euthanasia. I suggest that it is these tactics which have brought about the victories to date. Third, we must consistently preach and teach an authentic Catholic understanding of suffering and death, compassion and love, hope, and the true dignity and inviolability of each person. If we do these three things faithfully, the culture of life and love can prevail. If we do not, it is my firm conviction that our society (including many Catholics) will surely succumb to the culture of death. My hope is that this article will offer a brief and necessarily incomplete primer on these key issues.

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Comments

[Ed Peters]

I think those who kill themselves in accord with these appalling statutes necessarily eliminate every "benefit of the doubt" by which suicides are normally accorded Church funerals per c. 1184.1.3. See http://www.newoxfordreview.org/article.jsp?did=0609-peters.