Disability-rights groups are suing to strike down assisted suicide measures in Illinois and New York.
Currently, more than a dozen states have legalized physician assisted suicide. Last December, New York Governor Kathy Hochul and Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed laws making it possible for patients to request prescriptions for lethal drugs via so-called “Medical Aid in Dying.” But now those laws are facing legal challenges in federal court.
On June 11, the Brooklyn Center for Independence of the Disabled filed a lawsuit arguing New York’s Medical Aid in Dying Act unlawfully discriminates against disabled people and weakens suicide-prevention protections.
That same day, a coalition of disability-rights groups sued against the Illinois End of Life Options Act, alleging the law discriminates against disabled patients, undermines due process, and weakens longstanding suicide-prevention protections.
Once doctors and policymakers decide some lives are not worth living, it’s practically impossible to choose where to draw the line on assisted suicide.
A physician in Quebec recently made headlines for actually suggesting the Canadian Medical Aid in Dying program be broadened to include babies. Next year, Canada could expand assisted suicide to include people suffering solely from mental health conditions like anxiety or depression.
In the U.S., peer-reviewed research has found people with eating disorders have been wrongly approved for assisted suicide — even in states where assisted suicide is supposed to be limited to patients with terminal illnesses.
Assisted suicide fundamentally changes the doctor-patient relationship from healing to killing, and in some countries, it’s driving palliative care specialists to leave the medical profession. That hurts everyone.
Being pro-life means believing human life is sacred from conception until natural death. Just like abortion, euthanasia and assisted suicide are murder, and they violate the sanctity of human life. Pro-lifers must stand strong against them.
Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.
