InVitro Fertilization (IVF) is in the news and it’s something all Catholics should be aware of. This is a challenging issue in many ways…and…Church teaching is abundantly clear that IVF is never acceptable.
We recognize this can be a difficult teaching, which makes it only more important that we understand why the Church teaches this…both for our own peace of mind and so we can help others understand.
The Pro-Life FeministLegislative Advocacy February 13th, 2025 (Vol. 4)
URGENT CALL TO ACTION
Please call andemail your NYS Legislators and URGE them to VOTE NO to the pending Medical Aid in Dying (MAID) Act. Several NYS Legislators already re-introduced MAID this year in both the NYS Assembly & Senate. Both MAID bills, A136 and S138, were referred to the health committees in each respective chamber. Please URGE the NYS Legislators that sit in these health committees to VOTE NO to MAID. MAID permits doctors to give qualifying people, including teenagers (18 + 19 year olds), a lethal overdose of drugs to self-administer. MAID endangers the lives of vulnerable people, including the disabled and aged.MAID disproportionately impacts women. MAID normalizes suicide, especially by drug overdose.MAID allows individuals to financially benefit from the death of MAID victims.
The American Medical Association opposes MAID. The AMA clearly states that physician assisted suicide “would ultimately cause more harm than good.”
It is a fundamental principle of suicide prevention that ‘every suicide is a tragedy’. Every death robs the world of someone who is unique, irreplaceable, a world in themselves. David Albert Jones, Research Fellow, Oxford University
A “growing body of evidence” shows- feeling like a “burden to others”- is a relevant factor in “death hastening acts.” Nearly half of Canadians, for example, who died by assisted suicide cited they felt like a “burden on family, friends or caregivers,” among their reasons for committing suicide.
(Please only participate if you are a NY Registered Voter)
Phone & Email Script Suggestion: Dear Senator/Assemblyperson, I am a voting New Yorker and I oppose the Medical Aid in Dying Act /MAID. MAID jeopardizes the lives of the disabled, aged and infirm. Legalizing medical aid in dying increases rates of suicide, according to comprehensive studies, and disproportionately impacts women. Self-administering a lethal dose of drugs, even if provided by a physician, is suicide, and helping someone commit suicide is criminal. Progressive societies promote life-affirming solutions, not the violent destruction of human life. On behalf of vulnerable people and future generations please VOTE NO to MAID, #S138, #A136. Sincerely,
So-called safeguards are often touted as making Euthanasia/Physician Assisted Suicide “safe.” As should be shocking to no one, it turns out that such so-called safeguards are worth approximately as much as a paper upon which they are written.
Read the whole thing and consider whether or not something similar is likely to be happening here in the US.
End-of-Life End-Arounds seem to keep popping up. One of the “big ones” is the renaming of intrinsically evil actions like suicide to sound better, e.g., the, sadly, successful effort to rename Physician Assisted Suicide to the now so-called Medical Aid in Dying (MAiD).
As you might have guessed, however, it does not stop there…
An article was recently published authored by, among others, Dr. Timothy Quill and Dr. Thaddeus Pope, both long-time advocates for Physician Assisted Suicide, introduces “a framework that resolves competing ethical and clinical considerations in caring for those with advanced dementia,” which they are calling Minimal Comfort Feeding (MCF).
Basically, the idea is that for patients with advanced dementia, rather than offering them food at, say, mealtimes, we might rather offer them food/drink “only in response to signs of hunger and thirst.”
While we can, partially, applaud their attempt to find an option for oral nutrition and hydration that does not involve actively withholding food and water from those who have lost the ability to ask for it (which is very likely being done even as we write this), we feel confident in concluding that, regardless of the author’s hopes:
the risk of MCF morphing into actively withholding oral nutrition and hydration is too high for it to be a licit practice, and
even if MCF was carried out as the authors suggest, it is very likely illicit given that we have a positive duty to feed the hungry. Most assuredly, this positive duty does not extend to “force feeding” (as is made clear in the Catechism), but from that it does not follow that we can forgo offering*
If you would like the full text of the this article, you can request a reprint (PDF) from the corresponding author:
Hope A. Wechkin, MD 12822 124th Lane NE Kirkland, WA 98034 hawechkin@evergreenhealthcare.org
*While this seems to be true, this should be qualified in that there may come a time in a person’s life where it is clear that he can take no oral nutrition or hydration, that this situation is irreversible, and continuing to offer such has become an undue burden. However, that would seem to be a relatively high bar, and, licit justification for deciding to no longer offer oral nutrition/hydration would not include that the person does “not want to continue living with this illness.”
Thank you to the Catholic Courier for their article highlighting the wonderful work being done by Mt. Carmel House! The volunteers and staff are truly doing God’s work, caring for the dying.
If you are looking to volunteer with a worthy organization, give them a call!
Thank you to everyone who attended our annual White Mass! Thank you also, especially, to Bishop Matano. We could not ask for a more supportive shepherd!
Please take a moment to read the NY State Catholic Bishops’ statement on the (so-called) Equal Rights Amendment (aka Proposition One). This will be on the ballot and we urge you to be informed!
The Bishops conclude:
“Proposal 1 is a wolf in sheep’s clothing that could lead to darkness for many New York families. This amendment disregards the lives of unborn and struggling children in the name of political agendas. It could have dangerous consequences for these children and their parents. As they look to make their voices heard in the public square, faithful Catholics should consider these consequences and vote no. Likewise, they should thoughtfully vote their informed conscience up and down the ballot so that we might usher in change for good.”
