In response to a rally sponsored by the Connecticut Catholic Public Affairs Conference, Second Thoughts Connecticut held a counter protest objecting to the Catholic group’s linking of support for pregnancy care centers with opposition to assisted suicide.
According to Second Thoughts CT’s press release:
Stephen Mendelsohn, a member of Second Thoughts Connecticut, said, “By mixing opposition to assisted suicide with support for pregnancy care centers, the Connecticut Catholic Conference undercuts our message.” He further asserted, “It sabotages our ability to reach progressive legislators with our perspective that assisted suicide is lethal disability discrimination and a deadly mix with a broken, cost cutting healthcare system. Their misguided and ineffective tactics play into proponents’ arguments, making it more likely that assisted suicide legislation will pass.”
The protest garnered local coverage in the Hartford Courant:
Split over abortion divides Catholic Church and disability rights activists in right-to-die fight in Connecticut legislature. Groups will hold separate rallies Wednesday (Hartford Courant, 04/07/21)
Photos from the protest (photo credits to Kathy Flaherty) and the full press release are below.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Cathy Ludlum 860-649-7110 cathyludlum@cox.net
Stephen Mendelsohn 860-827-8003 (best after 5:30) smendelsohn5845@att.net
Second Thoughts Connecticut
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SecondThoughtsConnecticut
Twitter: https://twitter.com/2ndThoughtsCT
Second Thoughts Connecticut Holds Counter Protest to
Rally Sponsored by the Connecticut Catholic Conference
April 6, 2021 (Manchester, CT) – On Wednesday, April 7, 2021, Second Thoughts Connecticut will hold a counter protest against the Freedom to Live Rally organized by the Connecticut Catholic Public Affairs Conference. Starting at 6:30 PM, the counter protest will take place in Minuteman Park, 300 Capitol Avenue, Hartford, CT, in front of The Armory and across the street from the Legislative Office Building.
Second Thoughts Connecticut, a grassroots disability rights organization opposed to the legalization of physician assisted suicide, objects to the Church’s rally for many reasons.
Stephen Mendelsohn, a member of Second Thoughts Connecticut, said, “By mixing opposition to assisted suicide with support for pregnancy care centers, the Connecticut Catholic Conference undercuts our message.” He further asserted, “It sabotages our ability to reach progressive legislators with our perspective that assisted suicide is lethal disability discrimination and a deadly mix with a broken, cost cutting healthcare system. Their misguided and ineffective tactics play into proponents’ arguments, making it more likely that assisted suicide legislation will pass.”
Second Thoughts Connecticut member, Cathy Ludlum, stated, “Opposition to assisted suicide comes from many different directions. It is not limited to religious people, and not only the Catholic Church. Proponents of assisted suicide frequently attribute all opposition to the Church.” She continued, “Linking opposition with a powerful institutional force silences the effective voices from the disability-rights community.”
From its founding, Second Thoughts Connecticut has maintained a strict policy that prevents the organization from getting involved with issues other than assisted suicide and a few closely related disability-rights issues. Members represent a broad spectrum of political beliefs.
Sporting a banner that says ANTI-ASSISTED SUICIDE ≠ ANTI-ABORTION, members of Second Thoughts Connecticut will make it clear that opposition to assisted suicide has nothing to do with an individual’s views on abortion.
Joan Cavanagh of Second Thoughts Connecticut, said, “I am strongly pro-choice. I have spent a lot of time working against assisted suicide, and I resent that the Church would mix these issues together. It makes it appear that everyone who opposes assisted suicide is against reproductive rights, which is obviously untrue.” She added, “I will be holding my personal sign that says I am pro-choice, but this does not reflect the position of Second Thoughts Connecticut as an organization, which deliberately does not take a stand on that issue either way.”
Second Thoughts Connecticut member, Kathy Flaherty, asserted, “The motto of the disability community is ‘Nothing About Us Without Us.’ The Connecticut Catholic Conference organized their rally without consulting the people who have the most to lose: those of us with disabilities. In different ways, both Compassion & Choices and the Catholic Church continuously disregard and disrespect people with disabilities representing ourselves. Our lives must not be used as pawns, especially during a still-raging pandemic.”
Assisted Suicide is about the MONEY. In our Medical Industrial Complex that is 22% of The GNP, citizens can’t be allowed to live as long as is medically possible. The easiest targets for savings to ensure profits are the disabled and the elderly. This is why a unilateral DNR that appears in a Hospital Chart is only an ethics violation under existing law. This is why primary family practice physicians no longer even have hospital privileges. An ugly reality that Anita Cameron and John Kelly and Not Dead Yet faces every day!!!!