The pro-death folks are at it again, and your voice is needed to stop them!
Once again, Maryland legislators have brought forward a bill to legalize assisted suicide. This bill (SB 701) will be heard in the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee on Friday afternoon.
This assisted-suicide bill will allow doctors to prescribe a lethal dose of drugs to anyone who has been “qualified” to end their own life. The so-called “protections” in these bills are weak, leaving our most vulnerable people – the disabled, the mentally ill and our teens – at higher risk for abuse.
Sadly, suicide tends to generate copycats among the emotionally vulnerable via a phenomenon called suicide contagion, where one suicide leads to many. Suicide is already the second leading cause of death for teens, and suicides among veterans far outnumber combat fatalities.
This bill sends a very bad message to our most vulnerable teens and veterans – that suicide is okay in some instances.
We need your help to encourage the senators on the committee to vote NO on assisted suicide. In just 30 seconds, you can send a message to all of the committee members – that in Maryland every life is worth fighting for.
Thank you for speaking up for life!
The Family Policy Alliance Team
P.S. Please spread the word and forward this information to family and friends using the share button below so they can make their voice heard, too!
Your state representative needs to hear from you! That’s because the Maryland Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee could be voting as soon as next week on a bill that would legalize assisted suicide. The Maryland House passed this bill on March 7th . This is our chance to stop this radical agenda.
House Bill 399 would allow doctors to prescribe a lethal dose of drugs to anyone who has been “qualified” to end their own life.
There is nothing in this measure that would prevent abuses from taking place. That puts the disabled and the elderly particularly at risk.
And please contact the senators on the committee today and ask them to oppose assisted suicide (HB 339). We’ve made it easy through our Action Center. You can make your voice heard in seconds.
Let them know that you believe every life is worth fighting for!
The Family Policy Alliance Team
P.S. Please share this with family and friends so they can make their voice heard, too!
On Monday, the House Health and Human Services Committee is scheduled to consider HB 90 which would legalize assisted suicide in New Mexico. HB 90 has been described by many as the most radical assisted suicide legislation that has ever been proposed in any state!
Consider these facts about the bill:
- Under HB 90, a non-physician could diagnose and prescribe lethal drugs to bring about the patient’s death. Nurse practitioners and physician assistants are not as experienced as doctors in diagnosing or treating serious diseases and could easily make a mistake.
- Under HB 90, “terminal illness” is so broadly defined as occurring within a “reasonably foreseeable period of time” that it includes many conditions that are treatable but not terminal, such as frailty or a spinal cord injury or progressive disabilities.
- Under HB 90, patients who are severely depressed, have mental illness, or are intellectually impaired are not required to have counseling. They can be referred to mental health professionals who can use telemedicine, rather than a personal visit, to determine that the patient has “capacity” to make the request for lethal drugs.
HB 90 is scheduled for a committee hearing Monday morning, at 8:30 a.m., in Room 315, and your quick help is needed to urge the following committee members to vote “NO.”
Representative Deborah Armstrong – (D-Bernalillo) (505) 986-4344
Representative Joanne Ferrary – (D- Doña Ana) (505) 986-4338
Representative Gail Armstrong – (R-Catron, Socorro, & Valencia) (505) 986-4242
Representative Karen Bash – (D- Bernalillo) (505) 986-4210
Representative Zach Cook – (R- Lincoln & Otero) (505) 986-4243
Representative William Pratt – (D- Bernalillo) (505) 986-4248
Representative Gregg Schmedes – (R- Bernalillo, Sandoval & Santa Fe) (505) 986-4453
Representative Elizabeth “Liz” Thomson – (D-Bernalillo) (505) 986-4425
Please contact these Representatives TODAY and urge them to vote “NO” on HB 90.
We have made it simple to communicate this request. Simply click here and you can send this message in 30 seconds!
Also, please forward or share this message with friends. It is important that these Representatives hear from as many people as possible.
Finally, after you have sent the message through our Action Center, please call the Representatives at the numbers provided above and leave the same message.
Thank you for making your voice heard!
The Family Policy Alliance of New Mexico Team
Dear Friends:
As you know, efforts to legalize assisted suicide in New Mexico have been growing in recent years. Following the November election, advocates now believe 2019 will be the year that assisted suicide is passed by the Legislature and signed into law by Governor-Elect Michelle Lujan-Grisham.
People on both sides of this issue agree on one thing—assisted suicide is a serious matter and it should not be addressed lightly. Consequently, Family Policy Alliance of New Mexico has been working with other local allied organizations to help educate the public on the unintended and dangerous consequences of assisted suicide, and the slippery slope we have seen in other states and countries.
Take Canada for instance. Recently, it was reported that just two years after legalizing assisted suicide nationally, physicians from Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children are already pursuing policies that would extend assisted suicide options to minor children, without parental notification or consent.
You read that right—assisted suicide for children, without parental input!
The unintended consequences of assisted suicide—including death after misdiagnosis and/or inaccurate prognosis; intimidation from family members; and/or abuse from profit-driven insurance companies—should be enough for us to reject this legislation come January. However, if more reason is needed, look to Canada’s slippery slope.
Friends—when a society determines that some lives are not worth living and that assisted suicide is a “dignified” and “compassionate” option, it is only a matter of time before that “option” is extended to more and more individuals.
There is a reason that our State Legislature has rejected this legislation every time it has been presented. There is a reason that the overwhelming majority of other states have consistently rejected this legislation. Because when it comes to caring for those facing serious illness and end of life, we can and should do much better than abandoning them to hopelessness and death.
Instead, let us work together to find solutions that offer genuine compassion and comfortable care to those when they need it most.
Every life is worth fighting for.
Sincerely,
Vince Torres
President and Executive Director
When you think of someone taking their life through assisted suicide, perhaps you think of an elderly person, or at least of a young adult with a terminal diagnosis.
But that’s not where assisted suicide is headed. All you have to do is look to Europe – or even Canada.
In Europe, advocates for assisted suicide have been fanatical in their efforts to make suicide “accessible” to all. This so-called “compassionate choice” is no longer presented as merely an option for the elderly with a terminal diagnosis.
In Switzerland, for example, assisted suicide is available for people who are perfectly healthy senior citizens, but are simply tired of living. The Netherlands grants assisted-suicide requests to people who are experiencing “unbearable and hopeless psychological suffering,” like schizophrenia and depression.
But now, Belgium has finally dared to go where this has been heading all along: assisted suicide for children.
A Belgium law allows “terminally ill children of unbearable suffering to choose to die.” Recently, the world discovered an 11-year-old and a 9-year-old were the youngest-ever victims of assisted suicide.
It’s tragic enough that these two young children no longer believed that their own lives were worth fighting for. It’s worse yet that the medical professionals charged with their care stopped fighting for them.
And, closer to home, a Canadian hospital just published proposed policies for handling physician-assisted suicide for children. Under the proposed policy, children would be allowed to choose assisted suicide on their own, without the parents even knowing. That is a mind-blowing violation of basic parental rights!
But, more fundamentally, how does a child even choose to die?
A 9-year-old can’t sign a contract for at least nine more years. A 9-year-old can’t vote. Many wouldn’t (and shouldn’t) leave a 9-year-old home alone. How in the world is a 9-year-old capable of requesting and “consenting” to their own death? And what genuinely compassionate physician would say yes?
It is one of humanity’s strongest instincts to protect the lives of our children. It is most certainly a parent’s. We can and must take responsibility for protecting those lives, and one way to do that is by voting! We must vote for policy makers who value life and who will support policies that better uphold life, like palliative care for the chronically ill. We must elect officials who will strictly prohibit the ability of a physician to “assist” in taking the life of a child, or any other person for that matter.
Voting pro-life is more than just a mantra. By voting for pro-life candidates on November 6 (or earlier), you are taking an important step to save lives.
Every life—especially those of young children—is worth fighting for.
The Hawaii House of Representatives is about to vote on a bill (House Bill 2739) that would allow doctors to prescribe a lethal dose of drugs to anyone who has been “qualified” to end their own life.
The so-called protections in this bill are weak and will do little to prevent abuses from taking place. That puts the disabled and the elderly particularly at risk.
The video above is the moving story of Jean, who as a young woman experienced a horrific, debilitating accident. Thankfully, she found purpose in life and is now so thankful that she did not have the option of assisted suicide following the accident. Please watch and share with friends!
And please contact your representative today and ask him or her to oppose assisted suicide. We’ve made it easy through our Action Center. Even if you don’t know who your representative is, you can send an email with just a click – and the Action Center will get it to the right legislator.
Let them know that you believe every life is worth fighting for!
The Family Policy Alliance Team
P.S. Please forward this email to family and friends so they can make their voice heard, too!
By Autumn Leva, VP of Strategy
As Christ-followers, by now we know what love looks like at the very beginning of life. We’ve learned how to fight for preborn babies for the last 45 years of Roe v. Wade’s existence.
But what does love look like at the end of life—when you or a loved one receives the medical diagnosis no one expected, when there’s pain and suffering?
We believe that love looks very much the same at the end as it does at the beginning. We believe that every life is worth fighting for—regardless of medical diagnosis, health condition, age, disability, socioeconomic status, or any other factor.
Sadly, proponents of legalizing assisted suicide do not believe this—they believe that the solution for loved ones who have been diagnosed with a serious medical condition and (in theory) six months left to live is for a doctor to provide a prescription for their patient to take a lethal dose of pills at home.
Rather than working with family members, counselors, medical professionals, and others to provide the best care when a loved one needs it most, it seems easier to give him or her access to a lot of pills to end it all. But that’s not caring—that’s abandonment.
We believe that we can do better than assisted suicide when it comes to caring for those approaching the end of life.
Our friend Jean has an amazing story of how God proved His love to her after a terrible accident—and she says better than anyone that we need to find policy solutions that “eliminate the problem, not the patient.”
Thankfully, 30 States have rejected over 200 attempts to legalize assisted suicide since 1994. Now, Representative Brad Wenstrup, who represents Ohio’s 2nd District in D.C., has introduced a resolution in Congress (H. Con. Res. 80) declaring the position of the U.S. House and U.S. Senate as opposed to assisted suicide. The last words of Rep. Wenstrup’s resolution are:
Representative Brad Wenstrup (OH, District 2)
“[I]t is the sense of the Congress that the Federal Government should ensure that every person facing the end of their life has access to the best quality and comprehensive medical care, including palliative, in-home, or hospice care, tailored to their needs and that the Federal Government should not adopt or endorse policies or practices that support, encourage, or facilitate suicide or assisted suicide, whether by physicians or others.”
But, Congress won’t prioritize passing Rep. Wenstrup’s resolution without our help and encouragement.
Family Policy Alliance is sending a letter to Congress this week, asking them to swiftly pass Rep. Wenstrup’s resolution. Will you help by asking your own U.S. House Representative to pass Rep. Wenstrup’s resolution?
We’ve made it easy through our Action Center.
Simply fill in your contact information for the letter, click send, and your letter will be automatically sent to your Representative.
Thank you for your help, and thank you for helping our leaders understand what love looks like at the end of life!
Every life is worth fighting for.
Focus on the Family Citizen magazine offers an in depth look at the issue of assisted suicide.
A documentary filmmaker explains “what happens to a society that embraces and hastens the death of some of its most vulnerable citizens.” And learn about the status of legislation in the U.S. from experts across the country, including our own Autumn Leva.
“While we all care about the individuals who are suffering, public policy needs to take into account the needs of all of society,” she said. “What we decide about assisted suicide impacts how we understand the value of life, the medical profession, and many other areas of life.”
Read More at Focus on the Family Citizen.
by Autumn Leva, Director of Policy & Communications
UK baby Charlie Gard has captured hearts across the world as his parents fight for their right to bring him to the United States to see if an experimental treatment will help with his rare genetic disorder. Charlie’s parents were forced to turn to the courts when the hospital decided it would be better to end his life-supporting treatment — even though his parents had raised enough money to take Charlie to the U.S. and pay for the experimental treatment.
Two weeks ago, Charlie’s parents thought they had reached the end of their legal battle. The European Court of Human Rights rejected their final appeal — claiming it would be in Charlie’s best interest to let him die .
But just last week, Charlie’s parents were allowed to re-open the case to present new evidence that the experimental treatment would potentially help Charlie. A New York doctor arrived in London this week to assess Charlie, and the judge has promised to rule by July 25th .
But we now know that the lawyer appointed to represent Charlie (again, against his parents’ wishes) heads up a charity with deep connections to proponents of assisted suicide . Walk with me on this for a moment — this means the legal system decided a person who is not Charlie’s parent is supposed to represent Charlie’s best interests, and that person happens to believe that medical professionals should be able to help people kill themselves when they “no longer have quality of life.” That’s the problem with assisted suicide — bureaucrats should not be able to say that some lives have more quality than others.
Because I am a lawyer, I first started thinking about this situation legally — all the litigation and procedural hoops Charlie’s parents were jumping through to help their son, and the obvious conflict of interest with Charlie’s appointed lawyer. But then, I started seeing news reports on the hearing last week with Charlie’s mom begging the court to listen to them because “he’s our son,” and how both parents stormed out of the hearing in frustration. I started to imagine, what if Charlie were my son? What if it were my son being held hostage by my country’s healthcare and legal systems, telling me Charlie’s life is not worth fighting for, and that bureaucrats know better than my husband and me what’s best for our child?
You better believe I would fight for my child — and I know you would as well.
And the reason we would fight is a biblical principle: Love always protects.
Parents have God-given rights and responsibilities, and protection is both a chief right and responsibility.
At the end of the day, only Charlie’s parents really love him, and only Charlie’s parents will be without their only son if the court rules against them. This is why parents, who love their children and uphold their responsibility to protect them, are the ones who truly know what is best for their kids. Love always protects.
So, we hope you’ll join Family Policy Alliance as we pray for Charlie and his parents, Connie and Chris, as they await a ruling on their son’s fate. We also hope you’ll partner with us, because we promise this — we will always work with our alliance of godly statesmen and stateswomen, state-based family policy groups, and families like yours to advance policies in your state that uphold parental rights, because we know that love always protects. We also promise that we will continue our successful fight opposing assisted-suicide policies and advocating for policies affirming that every life is worth fighting for. Assisted suicide was defeated in all 30 states where it was proposed, with the exception of Washington, D.C.
We hope you’ll join with us to make sure that what baby Charlie and his parents are facing doesn’t happen to any family here in America.
Congress is currently considering the future of assisted suicide in the District of Columbia.
The U.S. House has a say in what goes on in the District, so no matter what state you live in, your voice can have an impact.
Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee have voted to repeal the law. Now it’s critical that all members of the U.S. House hear from people who support the repeal when the bill moves to the House floor.
Jean Swenson has a unique perspective on such laws.
In 1980, her car was hit by a semi-truck. Her head went through the windshield, breaking her neck, and she was paralyzed from the shoulders down. This powerful video shares her thoughts on assisted suicide.
The House members who voted in committee to protect life understand that there’s no dignity in assisted suicide. As Jean explained: “I’m really grateful that people didn’t take my cries that my life was over seriously and they provided what I really needed – which was support, encouragement, prayers. … The road hasn’t always been easy, but it’s been good. And it’s definitely been worth fighting for.”
TAKE ACTION: Please take a few moments to send a message through our Action Center to your member of Congress. Ask them to support the repeal of D.C.’s assisted-suicide law.By calling on Congress to repeal DC’s harmful law, you help send the message that all lives, including Jean’s, are worth fighting for.