New York Legalizes Physician Assisted Suicide
By Heather Weininger, Executive Director of Wisconsin Right to Life
Does death come in threes?
After watching Delaware, Illinois, and now New York fall to pro-death policies, it certainly feels like it.
You will hear in the news that this latest assisted suicide law has the most “safeguards” in the country.
Do not be misled.
Across North America, we are seeing the same pattern repeat itself: once assisted suicide is legal, the guardrails collapse.
In Colorado, where assisted suicide has been legal since 2016, patients have been prescribed lethal drugs for anorexia.
Anorexia is an eating disorder with high recovery rates when proper care is provided. I can attest to this personally.
In Canada, assisted suicide has expanded so aggressively that just weeks ago, 26-year-old Kiano Vafaeian was killed through assisted suicide after struggling with vision loss and depression.
Kiano was not facing a terminal condition. He was suffering, and was offered death instead of care.
Assisted suicide does not affirm dignity. It undermines it for people with disabilities, mental illness, chronic conditions, the elderly, or anyone who society makes them feel like a burden.
It tells them that their lives are negotiable, their suffering inconvenient, and their continued existence is optional.
Wisconsin must learn from the mistakes of other states and countries.
We must remain vigilant here in Wisconsin, to defend human dignity at every age and stage.