Government, at any level, by nature opens and closes many doors. But there are some doors for which no government should be granted the key, let alone be allowed to be the doorman parting the velvet rope for some and turning back others.
Recently, I traveled to Nevada to give testimony against the devaluation of life and endangerment of the elderly, the poor, and the disabled by legalized suicide. Yet the select committee, specifically established to bring about death-on-demand, denied not only my voice, but that of more than thirty others there in opposition to assisted suicide.
While more than seventy-five percent of attendees and ninety-four percent of online responders stood in opposition, the committee accepted the arguments of the bill’s proponents that it should be the government’s role to break the seal on death and open the passage for a specific and select group to be ushered out of life with little more for a gate than the legal fiction of capacity and self-certification.
Anyone listening closely will hear the heartbreaking message: some lives are no longer worth fighting for. The elderly, the sick, the disabled, and the depressed perceive that when life gets hard, the best we can offer is death—not help, not hope, not healing.
Some will hear this and wonder, “Am I next?” They will ask, “When I’m struggling with depression, sickness, or disability, will anyone stand up for me?” This kind of law answers with a chilling “no”. It teaches that for certain people, the solution isn’t support—it’s legal killing. And once we accept the idea that it’s okay to end the lives of some, we’ve opened the door to questioning the value of every life. What begins as an option quickly becomes an expectation—and eventually, a quiet form of state-approved murder.
Tragically, still others will hear the same message and ask, “Who is to say that door should not be open for my pain, my sorrow, and my suffering? Why not me?” In the act of passing this kind of law, lawmakers are saying to this group, “Keep pushing and you can be next.” Once this door is cracked the opening can do nothing but widen.
Nevada is not alone in sending this message. Delaware recently considered a dangerous death-on-demand bill, seeking to legalize suicide in the state. Similar to my experience in Nevada, the legislature refused to honor the public’s right to comment on the bill, including AUL Policy Counsel, Danielle Pimentel. Although the legislature allowed a few people to share a mere minute of testimony, it cut off public testimony after less than 10 minutes despite the large number of people who attended in person and virtually that desired to share their opposition to a bill that devalues human life.
As the twentieth century taught us, government policy that promotes, condones, or permits selective groups being ushered into death without protection always leads to corruption—corruption of laws, of culture, and of self-governance.
No government should ever say to its citizens that the proper solution in the face of life’s challenges is to give up, to tap out, to be terminated. There is no light behind that door.
