Statement on Physician-Assisted Suicide
by Cardinal Francis E. George, O.M.I.
RE: Oregon’s vote to keep physician-assisted suicide law
As a former resident of Oregon, I was deeply troubled to learn that the people of the State of Oregon failed to pass Measure 51, which would have repealed the nation’s only law allowing physician-assisted suicide.
Nearly one year ago, my predecessor, Joseph Cardinal Bernardin, wrote the Supreme Court of the United States as he lay dying of pancreatic cancer. Cardinal Bernardin noted that "there can be no legal and moral order which tolerates the killing of innocent human life, even if the agent of the death is self-administered. Creating a new "right" to assisted suicide will endanger society and sends a false signal that a less than ‘perfect’ life is not worth living." The Cardinal’s words are as true today as they were then.
Unfortunately, since the lives of terminally ill citizens of Oregon are no longer fully protected by law, the quality of civilization in Oregon is wounded. Despite this vote, most Americans will continue to oppose the private killing of the sick; issues of life and death define who we are as a people. I hope this new legal situation will be an impetus for medical facilities to create better pain care programs and to provide more comprehensive care for the dying. Even as Oregonians work to contain the consequences of a bad law, I would ask all people of good will to join together to insure that this tragic decision is never replicate
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