Respect Life

“Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.”

RESPECT LIFE: 

“The worst suffering of seriously ill people is often not physical pain, which can be alleviated with competent medical care, but feelings of isolation and hopelessness.’” Access great articles, prayers, and reference information at Be pro-active. Learn what you can, before you need to make important decisions for yourself and your loved ones.

Suicidal individuals - with or without a terminal illness - typically do not want to die; they want to escape what they perceive to be an intolerable situation, and they inaccurately believe that suicide is their only way out. The patient requesting assisted suicide is often asking, "Does anyone want me to be alive, or care enough to talk me out of this request and support me through this difficult time?" - "Every Suicide is Tragic," USCCB Sceretariat of Pro-life Activities www.usccb.org/rspectlife

TRUTH AND LOVE ABOUT PHYSICIAN ASSISTED SUICIDE:

Physician assisted suicide (PAS) is a hot topic across the USA, and there will be a bill proposed in the Minnesota legislature this 2020 to legalize it. We know that we are called to defend the dignity of life from conception to natural death. But we may not know that our faith is a treasure of the art of dying well.

PAS myth: Most people choose Physician Assisted Suicide because they are in great pain .

Truth: The state of Oregon has offered legal PAS since 1997, and has kept public health records since then. One intake question asks why the person is choosing PAS. Inadequate pain management or fear of future pain did not even make the top five reasons. The top reason for choosing PAS has consistently been loss of autonomy (the freedom to live as you wish).

Catholic compassion: Remind people that we have the most advanced palliative care (pain management) medicine in the world, since the beginning of time. Pain can be well managed. And if there is pain, you will be there for them. As Catholics we can circle you in a ring of concrete help and prayer. If they are spiritually open, remind them they can offer the pain to God as a prayer for the world.