Find Your State Senator
Find Your Assembly Member
Download and send the letter to your legislator!
Text of Letter:
[Your Name]
[Your Address]
[Legislator Name]
[Legislator Address]
[Date]
Dear Sir/Madam,
I am writing ask you to oppose the introduction of physician-assisted suicide (PAS) in New York State. I believe there are both compelling theoretical and practical reasons to be concerned about the legalization of PAS in New York State. I can only list them briefly here and urge you to consider exploring them further in longer and more scholarly treatments of the subject.
In principal, please consider respect for the natural good of human life. Many ethicists have argued that respect for life means it is always wrong to intentionally kill an innocent human being, either as a means to an end or as an end in itself. If it is wrong to intentionally kill an innocent human being, then surely PAS is wrong. Since, the state must support and protect the common good, it is compelled to recognize, respect, and protect natural values like life. It may neither violate them nor encourage others to violate them. When the state declares that one particular group of innocent human beings may be intentionally killed, it weakens respect for all human life, thus failing to promote the common good and threatening most of all the weakest and most vulnerable members of society.
There are also strong practical considerations against legalizing PAS. In places like Oregon or the Netherlands where PAS is legal, a train of abuses and concerning cases should give us pause. This is not the stuff of fantasy. Many have been documented in careful academic books (see below) or groups like the Disability Rights & Education Defense Fund. They have found:
– A startling number of cases in the Netherlands annually where people are euthanized without their consent.
– Ineffective protections that allow the depressed, lonely, and mentally ill to use PAS.
Doctor shopping inevitably eliminates any meaningful safeguards in the law.
– Most people who commit suicide via PAS do not do so from unbearable pain, but from fear of being a burden to loved ones or inability to continue to do activities they valued.
In sum, please oppose physician-assisted suicide in New York State. We cannot let our state become one where innocent human life is further devalued, and killing rather than care, becomes a normal response to suffering.
Respectfully,
A Concerned Citizen
Download
Text of Letter:
[Your Name]
[Your Address]
[Legislator Name]
[Legislator Address]
[Date]
Dear Sir/Madam,
I am writing ask you to oppose the introduction of physician-assisted suicide (PAS) in New York State. I believe there are both compelling theoretical and practical reasons to be concerned about the legalization of PAS in New York State. I can only list them briefly here and urge you to consider exploring them further in longer and more scholarly treatments of the subject.
In principal, please consider respect for the natural good of human life. Many ethicists have argued that respect for life means it is always wrong to intentionally kill an innocent human being, either as a means to an end or as an end in itself. If it is wrong to intentionally kill an innocent human being, then surely PAS is wrong. Since, the state must support and protect the common good, it is compelled to recognize, respect, and protect natural values like life. It may neither violate them nor encourage others to violate them. When the state declares that one particular group of innocent human beings may be intentionally killed, it weakens respect for all human life, thus failing to promote the common good and threatening most of all the weakest and most vulnerable members of society.
There are also strong practical considerations against legalizing PAS. In places like Oregon or the Netherlands where PAS is legal, a train of abuses and concerning cases should give us pause. This is not the stuff of fantasy. Many have been documented in careful academic books (see below) or groups like the Disability Rights & Education Defense Fund. They have found:
– A startling number of cases in the Netherlands annually where people are euthanized without their consent.
– Ineffective protections that allow the depressed, lonely, and mentally ill to use PAS.
Doctor shopping inevitably eliminates any meaningful safeguards in the law.
– Most people who commit suicide via PAS do not do so from unbearable pain, but from fear of being a burden to loved ones or inability to continue to do activities they valued.
In sum, please oppose physician-assisted suicide in New York State. We cannot let our state become one where innocent human life is further devalued, and killing rather than care, becomes a normal response to suffering.
Respectfully,
A Concerned Citizen
Download
Stop Assisted Suicide NY 