From Alexandra Snyder, CEO, Life Legal Defense Foundation
In 2016, California’s state legislature opened the statutory flood gates for what was called “assisted suicide.” Back then, we were assured that numerous “safeguards” were incorporated into this legislation, ensuring that no “abuses” could occur. One question that was not considered was how any such flagrant dismissal of Hippocratic principles could be “abused.”
Wasn’t the legislation itself an abuse?
“Safeguards” in the original law
included the following:
Targets for termination had to be 18 or
older.
They had to be California residents.
They had to be terminally ill – that is,
given only six months to live by their physicians.
They had to be mentally competent.
They had to make two oral requests for
that deadly drug, at least 15 days apart.
They had to self-administer, by mouth,
the deadly drugs which would terminate their mortal lives.
Even with these alleged “safeguards” in
place, the law failed to pass through ordinary legislative procedures.
Advocates were forced to smuggle it into a special session called to address
budget shortfalls, then ram it through.
In response, we at Life Legal sued to have it invalidated on the grounds
that it was not legally enacted.
Briefly, we succeeded. In May 2018, Judge Daniel Ottolia of the
Riverside Superior Court ruled that the “California End of Life Option Act” was
unenforceable.
An appeals court reinstated the law a
month later. What did a little abuse of
the legislative process matter, anyhow?
And besides, there were all those “safeguards.”
Whenever such legislation is proposed,
proponents always tout their extensive “safeguards” as a selling point. And pro-life opponents always point out,
first, that the “safeguards” are inadequate and, second, that they will fall
away as surely as withered maple leaves in a darkening November.
The “safeguards” started to fall off
California’s medical murder tree in October 2021, when a new law reduced the
waiting period for lethal drugs from 15 days to 48 hours.
The new law also required doctors who
were opposed to assisted suicide to facilitate their patients’ requests for
“aid in dying” drugs. Life Legal successfully sued to have that provision
struck down in 2022.
And now the author of yet another bill –
SB 1196 – proposes to repair the remaining pesky “safeguards” all the way out
of existence. Senator Catherine Blackspear circulated a list of solutions
sponsored by the Hemlock Society that resulted in the bill including:
Eliminating the terminal illness
requirement. If SB 1196 is passed,
anyone with “a grievous and irremediable medical condition” will qualify for a
California termination. This phrase is
taken from Canada’s assisted suicide law, which also allows active euthanasia.
“Aid in dying” is now a leading cause of death in Canada. And “irremediable”
only means the person’s condition can’t be “relieved in a manner the individual
deems acceptable.”
Eliminating the requirement that people
requesting suicide be mentally competent. According to the sponsor of SB 1196,
those with early- to mid-stage dementia should also be allowed to experience
suicide with help!
Eliminating the requirement that the
suicide cocktail be ingested. Instead, SB 1196 only provides that the drugs be
“utilized,” which allows for death by intravenous injection.
Perhaps the most alarming provision of
SB 1196 is this apparently technical matter.
The 2016 law required self-administration of an oral agent. You had to take the poison yourself. SB 1196 enables intravenous administration of
lethal chemicals – as easy as the push of a button. This is the same mechanism
used in Switzerland’s killing centers, which requires nothing more than a small
bump or turning one’s head to start the deadly drip. And if someone else pushes
the button – which would be easily possible under SB 1196 – then the patient
has not committed suicide. Like a mutt
hauled into the local pound, the person has been euthanized.
Lest you think this is hyperbole, the
Hemlock Society president who is also a sponsor of SB 1196 admits she was
inspired by the end-of-life service provided by veterinarians.
The deletion of “safeguards” is, as
you’re not supposed to remember, exactly what was predicted back in 2016. If SB 1196 becomes law, the “safeguards” will
be gone as if they had never existed. But of course, that was the original
plan.
Please pray that SB 1196 will be
defeated! Medical murder in California
doesn’t need to advance any further.
Please pray that, if the bill passes,
our legal experts will find grounds to challenge it – as they did in 2016 and
2022 – and that this time the madness can be halted permanently!
If you attend church, encourage your
clergy to provide information about the dangers of assisted suicide laws. Let
us know if you need material.
If you live in California, please
contact your state senator and assembly member to oppose SB 1196!
The death dealers aren’t finished with
their march down this dismal road. Let’s
work together to stop them right here!
Yours for the threatened child in the
womb,
Alexandra
https://lifelegaldefensefoundation.org
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