California legalises assisted suicide

California Governor Jerry Brown signed a new law legalising physician-assisted suicide in the largest state in the US, writes Michael Sean Winters.

The law will permit terminally ill patients, with only six months to live, and with the consent of two doctors, to be prescribed medicines that will end their lives.

“In the end, I was left to reflect on what I would want in the face of my own death,” Governor Brown said in a signing message. “I do not know what I would do if I were dying in prolonged and excruciating pain. I am certain, however, that it would be a comfort to be able to consider the options afforded by this bill.”

Cardinal Seán O’Malley, chairman of the Bishops’ Conference committee on pro-life activities, said:? “Governor Brown’s decision this week to sign a bill legalising doctor-assisted suicide in California is a great tragedy for human life ... A government that legalises assisted suicide sends the terrible message Pope Francis has so eloquently warned us against, that there is such a thing as disposable people.”

Chicago Archbishop Blase Cupich has called for gun control legislation in the wake of continued gun violence in the city. “It is no longer enough for those of us involved in civic leadership and pastoral care [simply] to comfort the bereaved families of victims,” he wrote in the Chicago Tribune.