Bishop Mitch Releases Statement Voicing Opposition to Physician-Assisted Suicide
Springfield Bishop Mitchell T. Rozanski has released the following statement reiterating his opposition to physician assisted suicide. Measures have been endorsed in Northampton and will go before the Amherst Town Meeting this evening. These and other local efforts are happening in an effort to lobby the Massachusetts Legislature, which is currently considering, in committee, a bill that would allow physician-assisted suicide in the Commonwealth Massachusetts.
In September, the Massachusetts Medical Society also issued a statement opposing physician-assisted suicide legislation.
Bishop Mitch's Statement:
I am deeply disturbed to learn of local initiatives now being considered in support of physician assisted suicide.
In 2012, the voters of the commonwealth carefully considered a similar statewide ballot question and at that time by a clear majority rejected it.
The reasons to oppose it then remain just as valid now.
While supporters deceptively portray this as a compassionate effort, it is far from that, which is why groups representing some of the most vulnerable in our society, the disabled and elderly, remain in strong opposition.
And despite baseless assertions to the contrary, enabling suicide under such vague guidelines leaves the door wide open to abuse and a slippery slope of an ever increasing acceptance.
In a time when we are confronted by a crisis of teen suicide , such an effort would no doubt send our young people a mixed message.
Finally, with advances in pain management and hospice care, it is hard to understand why we need to make suicide legal.
In the strongest terms, I urge that these measures be rejected.
+Mitchell T. Rozanski, Bishop of Springfield
