Assisted suicide

New York Agrees Not to Force Catholic Nuns to Help Assisted Suicides

From the Becket website, here is a report on an important development in the suit brought by Catholic nuns to avoid being forced to participate in assisted suicides: “With agreement from the state of New York, a federal judge ordered the state not to enforce its assisted-suicide mandate against four orders of Catholic nuns and […]

Catholic Bishop and religious sisters sue New York over Assisted Suicide Requirements

Here is a link to a Becket Fund press release about a lawsuit that a Catholic Bishop and four communities of religious sisters filed against the state of New York to avoid being forced to participate in the process of assisted suicide.

France Legalizes Euthanasia

This story from EWTN News describes the vote from the French National Assembly legalizing euthanasia and assisted suicide. The French Senate had previously rejected the legalization effort but the French Prime Minister was able to take the issue to the National Assembly for final approval. France joins several other European countries (Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands, and […]

Richard Doerflinger and the Slippery Slope

Here is a link to a good essay by Richard Doerflinger about assisted suicide and the slippery slope. Doerflinger’s essay is a response to a recent editorial in The Economist supporting the legalization of assisted suicide. Doerflinger explains that the experience with assisted suicide in the US illustrates that opening the door to legalization typically […]

Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Rejects Fundamental Right to Assisted Suicide

Here is a link to an article in the National Right to Life News about this important decision. This decision follows the trend (which is of course not universal) of state supreme courts (even quite liberal such courts) rejecting the argument that there is a fundamental constitutional right to assisted suicide under the state constitution. […]

John Keown on the Link between Voluntary and Non-Voluntary Euthanasia

Here is a link to an excellent paper by John Keown, which was recently published in the Cambridge Law Journal. The paper is entitled “The Logical Link Between Voluntary and Non-Voluntary Euthanasia.” Here is the abstract– “The logical “slippery slope” argument is of key relevance to the ongoing debate about “assisted dying”. The argument runs […]

Massachusetts Court Considers Right to Assisted Suicide

Here is a link to a Reuters story on the oral argument before the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts. The Court is considering whether there is a state constitutional right to assisted suicide. In 1997, the US Supreme Court rejected a federal constitutional challenge to laws banning assisted suicide.

Senate Confirms Amy Coney Barrett

By a vote of 52-48, the US Senate confirmed Amy Coney Barrett as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. Barrett replaces Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg who died on September 18, 2020. Barrett adheres to the same judicial philosophy as Justice Antonin Scalia, for whom Barrett clerked in the late 1990s. As a […]