Today’s (April 6, 2012) edition of the Wall Street Journal features an op-ed by Diane Coleman and Stephen Drake of Not Dead Yet. It’s titled ‘Second Thoughts’ Grow on Assisted Suicide.” You can read the first two paragraphs below. At this time, full access to the article is available only to subscribers of the paper. We’ll try to get the rest of it out and freely readable at a future date. Here’s the intro:
An initiative to legalize assisted suicide will be on the November ballot in Massachusetts. Last month, advocates on both sides of the issue testified at a legislative hearing in Boston. Although the debate about assisted suicide is often portrayed as part of the culture war—with typical left-right, pro-con politics—the largest number of witnesses at the hearing were 10 disability-rights advocates who oppose the initiative.
In Massachusetts, the disability advocates call their opposition group “Second Thoughts.” They say that assisted suicide may sound like a good idea at first, but on second thought the risks of mistake, coercion and abuse are too great to warrant legal immunity for doctors or others who assist suicide.
More later….