Assisted suicide has been on my mind ever since Washington DC took steps to legalize the act in 2016. The fact that it wasn’t on my radar before is a luxury of my health. For Americans with disabilities, it is a constant threat to their dignity. Starting about 20 years ago, disability groups began speaking out and forming official positions against assisted suicide. Many accused those with disabilities of “meddling” and trying to “take away” the rights of those with disabilit

The etymology of euthanasia, when translated from Greek, means “good death (1).” In our present debate on euthanasia in the United States, the public policy arena is currently predominated by assisted suicide, a form of euthanasia distinguished only by the fact that the person committing the ultimate act of killing is the victim (2). In spite of the presence of suicide prevention programs to talk the depressed out of harming themselves — and even involuntary commitment and su

The Jahi McMath legal battle at Children’s Hospital Oakland over a brain-dead 13-year-old provides a stark contrast to a law passed across the Atlantic in Belgium that allows terminally ill minors to choose physician-assisted suicide. California judges have allowed the mother of young Ms. McMath to uphold her wish to keep her daughter on life support despite multiple pediatric neurologists declaring her dead. Meanwhile, the nation of Belgium presses forward its dismal euthana

BY NATALIE GRONHOLM In my last blog post about euthanasia, we briefly touched upon the different types of euthanasia. Here we will delve more deeply into involuntary euthanasia, its connection with eugenics, and what that could mean for us in the future. To refresh your memory, involuntary euthanasia involves ending the life of a patient against his or her will. Eugenics was originally defined as a social movement which promotes more reproduction between people with more de

BY NATALIE GRONHOLM Euthanasia is a tough topic to talk about in today's society. Euthanasia, which is always murder, but sometimes also a form of suicide, is actually the Greek word for "good death," and the act is also known as "mercy killing." It is generally defined as the intentional ending of a person's life in order to end his or her suffering. Because this act is associated with mercy, it is a very controversial topic. Bare-boned, it is one person taking the life

BY MARY STROKA Apart from debates about the presidential election, several individual states' voters faced other controversies on ballots. Massachusetts voters rejected a physician-assisted suicide measure 51-to-49 percent on Election Day 2012, for example. The ballot initiative would have allowed a Massachusetts-licensed physician to prescribe lethal medication if the patient met certain criteria. The patient had to be an adult "medically determined to be mentally capable

BY SARAH TERZO It was a dull, gray morning when Marjorie Walker drove into the parking lot of North Ridge Women's Center and parked her car. She saw that the clinic manager was already there, her red BMW parked in the employee section of the parking lot. The sky was overcast, and it was cold, and she felt a little bit thankful for that, because it meant that fewer protesters would show up at the clinic. They had their regulars, most of whom stayed pretty quiet, only holding

BY JULIA SMUCKER Life issues, in any form, have typically proven divisively controversial in general public discourse, and they have been no less so among Catholics, in particular. A more all-encompassing respect for life, which has been articulated in recent decades as a "consistent life ethic," is therefore both a telling indicator of intra-church polemics (particularly in terms of its reception) and a much-needed third way between them. While advocacy of the consistent e

BY NICHOLAS NEAL We often hear partisan pundits criticize their opponents for the opponents' inconsistencies about killing people. We hear that pro-life advocates do not respect the sanctity of life in war zones. We hear that peace advocates are not so peaceful when it comes to unborn children. What is the answer to this inconsistency? The simple answer is being consistent. This ideological position is known as the consistent life ethic. The foundation for this ethic is