California Attorney General Xavier Becerra is currently participating in confirmation hearings to join the Biden administration as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Though Becerra has already come under heavy fire from pro-life groups for his attacks on pro-life journalists and pregnancy resource centers, another troubling issue has arisen: Becerra’s support for assisted suicide in California.

In 2015, California legalized assisted suicide, despite opposition from both religious and disability rights groups. Almost two years after it took effect, however, Superior Court Judge Daniel A. Ottolia overturned the law, pointing out the bill was shoved through a special session that was meant to be dedicated to Medicare funding.

All of human experience — including its most tragic elements — needs to be brought into the light so we can better understand that we are created in love, fallen in sin, and redeemed by an all-loving God.

In 2018, Becerra called the ruling “an important step to protect and defend the End of Life Option Act for our families across the state.”

Last month, news broke that Connecticut lawmakers are planning to introduce another assisted suicide bill, calling it a “priority.” Even though a similar bill previously failed in 2013 and disability groups continue to oppose assisted suicide, it seems the bill will move forward anyway — and assisted suicide advocacy groups are already mobilizing.

In an op-ed for the Connecticut Mirror, lawyer David Leven argued that assisted suicide is not only necessary but somehow different from “regular” suicide. His letter was written in response to disability activist Lisa Blumberg, who pointed out the numerous problems surrounding assisted suicide. Yet Leven’s response was to simply further obscure the issue by using deceptive pro-assisted suicide rhetoric.

Debate continues to rage around Canada’s Bill C-7, which would greatly expand assisted suicide. Under this bill, euthanasia would be allowed for people whose deaths are not “reasonably foreseeable,” essentially allowing someone to choose to die because of a disability. Lawmakers are also debating whether or not to allow people to opt for assisted suicide solely due to mental illness. Yet the groups who are most vulnerable to potential abuses under this bill are urging lawmakers to vote against it.

Disability rights groups have been vocal in their opposition to C-7, rightly pointing out how it will be dangerous for Canadians with disabilities.

A 33-year-old personal trainer in the United Kingdom recently took his own life, using a “suicide kit” he ordered online which contained pills used for euthanasia. Harry Benjamin had long suffered from depression, but his mother said the isolation in lockdown pushed him over the edge.

Benjamin died in June of 2020, found in his bedroom by his mother, Jill Alexander. In an inquest about her son’s death, Alexander recounted what had happened. Benjamin had gone to bed at around 8:30pm, and when Alexander woke the next morning, she didn’t check his room, as he often slept late due to insomnia.

(National Review) When selling the legalization of assisted suicide, activists always promise that strict guidelines will protect against abuse.

After legalization, these protections are rebranded as “obstacles” or “barriers” that prevent patients from getting what they want. As soon as activists think they can get away with it, the law is loosened.

That process is unfolding in Washington State, where a new bill would let non-doctors be part of the assisted suicide bureaucratic process. From HB 1141 (my emphasis):

“Attending ((physician)) qualified medical provider” means the physician, physician assistant . . . or advanced registered nurse practitioner who has primary responsibility for the care of the patient and treatment of the patient’s terminal disease .

Various assisted suicide bills have been proposed in the state starting in 2013, though none have been passed into law.

According to the Hartford Courant, Connecticut lawmakers will again introduce an assisted suicide bill despite multiple failures to pass similar legislation beginning in 2013 — none of which made it out of committee.

“It is one of the priority bills of the public health committee,” Rep. Jonathan Steinberg (D-Westport) told the Hartford Courant. “A couple tweaks here and there, nothing of real consequence reflecting some of the learning we’ve had from experience of other states.”

Opponents say it will codify lethal disability discrimination into law. “Some people will get suicide prevention and others suicide assistance, and the difference will be based on their disability status,” said Stephen Mendelsohn, member of Second Thoughts Connecticut which opposes assisted suicide legislation.