California’s End of Life Option Act
by Rev. Michael W. Salemink, Executive Director-Elect
We grieve with the citizens of the State of California. On October 5, Governor Jerry Brown signed into law ABX2-15, the End of Life Option Act. This legislation authorizes an adult “determined by his or her attending physician to be suffering from a terminal disease” to have poison prescribed “for the purpose of ending his or her life.” Along with Oregon, Washington, Vermont, and Montana, California is now the fifth state that allows physician-assisted suicide.
We fear the chilling effect this will have on the culture surrounding those who are ailing or aging among us and on the care provided to them. The Netherlands and Belgium, which have permitted assisted suicide for decades, are witnessing continuing expansion of the practice and increased deaths from it. Recent research there demonstrates that this act that was initially limited to situations of terminal illness has been gradually widened so that it now includes any “unbearable suffering.” Individuals with a disability or depression—afflictions for which effective treatments are available and from which sustained relief is common—are ending their lives under a physician’s supervision. In some cases, the victims are even children and patients who never consented. And a study conducted in Oregon found that authorizing assisted suicide increased the incidence of overall “non-assisted” suicides.
We confess that every human life is sacred to God. In all states and stages, despite perceived quality or lack thereof, each human being remains inestimably valuable in the eyes of our Creator and Father and in the hands of our Lord and Savior. Not only does He personally form and preserve all souls and bodies, but He has forgiven them and redeemed us—for abundant, eternal life—by His unconditional grace in His incarnate, crucified, and resurrected Son, Jesus Christ! While we recognize and acknowledge that chronic disorders and terminal illnesses often cause intense suffering, we also rejoice in the character and history of our God who transforms seemingly hopeless circumstances and works great good from deep distress. We eagerly await the culmination of His kingdom where—in His time and according to His good and gracious will—He will himself bring pain to an end and wipe the tears from every eye.
We commit to interceding for the protection of the precious lives threatened by assisted suicide. Neither unnaturally sustaining biological existence as long as technologically possible nor terminating it prematurely offers any dignity to our shared human race.
We will continue to intervene with companionship to the best of our ability and with every kind of care we can for everyone endangered by this new legislation.
We call upon our country, and especially upon the Christian community, not to settle for what is easiest but to insist upon what it best for anyone who is suffering.
To that end, I encourage you to check out our many articles and resources on this and many other life issues.
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
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Links to research referenced in the article above:
How Does Legalization of Physician-Assisted Suicide Affect Rates of Suicide?
Belgium Extends Euthanasia Law to Kids
Physician-assisted deaths under the euthanasia law in Belgium: a population-based survey
Also see:
How the Euthanasia Lobby Was Able to Legalize Assisted Suicide in California, Is Your State Next? by Alex Schadenberg