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CV NEWS FEED // West Virginia Catholics should vote in favor of an anti-assisted suicide amendment that is on the state’s ballot, Bishop Mark Brennan of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston wrote in a pastoral letter.
If it passes, Referendum 1 will constitutionally prohibit committing euthanasia, assisted suicide, and “mercy killing,” in the state. A “yes” vote supports the amendment, which would add a layer of constitutional protection for vulnerable people.
Bishop Brennan wrote in October that the fifth commandment — “Thou shalt not kill” — prohibits not only bringing such harm upon others, but also upon oneself. “Our lives are a gift that we did not earn but which we must cherish,” he wrote.
The reasons a person might choose assisted suicide, such as to alleviate suffering, or out of fear of loneliness, can be remedied with measures that don’t kill him or her, the Bishop wrote. Medications can address the suffering, and support and visits from loved ones can help address the fears.
For those who would choose assisted suicide so as to, in their view, exercise their personal autonomy, Bishop Brennan wrote that such autonomy “is exercised more clearly by holding firmly to the value of one’s life until it must be relinquished than by rushing into death’s embrace.”
Assisted suicide is harmful not only to the person who opts for it but also to the physician, who is an accomplice in “administering” it, he indicated.
“Medically assisted suicide corrupts the medical profession,” Bishop Brennan wrote.
Physicians are supposed to help heal or provide support for those who are at the end of their lives, and assisted suicide turns this role into one of killing the patients, the Bishop wrote.
“A fundamental principle of medicine is to do no harm,” he continued. “Medically assisted suicide turns that principle upside down.”
He pointed out the worsening conditions regarding this issue in Oregon, where assisted suicide is legal, and in Canada, where “medical assistance in dying” for adults who meet the requirements to apply for it. Belgium and the Netherlands have even worse, broader availability of euthanasia, and even allow it for children.
“Where does medically assisted suicide end? In more and more graves. Is this what we want in West Virginia?” Bishop Brennan wrote.
He also posited: “Do we want our medical personnel to be corrupted and become the willing accomplices in the deaths of their patients?”
West Virginia voters “can take a stand” on the issue when at the ballot box, the Bishop stressed.
“Consult your conscience and your faith,” he concluded, “and vote for Referendum 1.”
