Fw: Take Action - US Conference of Bishops Targets End-of-Life Choice

[Guest guest]

This is an issue that is very important to me.  As a lifetime survivor of

chronic pain and illness, i feel strongly that it's crucial for us to obtain the

right to determine for OURSELVES the way we wish to *end* our lives, as well as

how we live our lives.

I therefore hope no one here will mind my forwarding this message, and will

prayerfully / meditatively consider whether they can support this issue --

Most Sincerely --

~Gaia~

Next week, the nation's most powerful religious body will launch an attack on

the principle of self-determination and impugn the moral character of those,

like you and me, who support it.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops dedicates itself to interpretation and

enforcement of Catholic Doctrine throughout the nation. During its high-profile

June 15-17 meeting in Seattle, the Bishops Conference will issue a formal

statement affirming absolute opposition to the choice of aid in dying at life's

end.

Calling it suicide, the bishops have long held this view. But this is their

first official and formal statement, and it signals the start of a widespread

political campaign to:

restrict patient access to end-of-life choice by lobbying Congress and state

legislatures to block measures to make aid in dying legal and accessible, and

pass measures to make it difficult or impossible for terminally ill patients to

know about or exercise this option;

shame and scold the people who support aid in dying, and the terminally ill

patients who seek it, through the unique power of their pulpit and public

standing.

The Bishops are also taking direct aim at Compassion & Choices; pointedly

co-opting our use of the words compassion and choice, and asserting in their

literature that they hold those values while we do not.

That is why I write to you today: to urge you to sign our Open Letter to the

U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in Affirmation of End-of-Life Choice and to

forward this email to as many friends and loved ones as possible so they can

sign, too. It is vital for Compassion & Choices to generate thousands of

signatures from you and other Americans before next Wednesday's Conference vote.

We simply must let the media, the public, and the Bishops themselves know that

their views in no way reflect mainstream opinion.

Click here to sign our Open Letter to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

Please don't get me wrong: the Bishops have every right to their opinion and

their religious teaching. What alarms us is their determination to use their

standing to undermine end-of-life choice and chastise everyone Catholic or

otherwise who believes in or practices it.

What the Conference of Bishops does in Seattle next week will make headlines

across the country. Your action today will make certain that our side is part of

that reporting, too.

Sign the Open Letter today and join Compassion & Choices' week-long effort to

spotlight the clear trend of majority support for end-of-life choice, and our

growing list of victories to protect it under law in Oregon, Washington,

California, Montana, New York, and other states from coast to coast.

Make no mistake: Catholic Conference views have influence. But with our shared

commitment to the work of Compassion & Choices, we do too and it's growing.

Millions of Americans are claiming their right to self-determination and to a

dying process free of meddling from religious or governmental hierarchies.

Please act now, before you read about the Catholic Conference's action in your

local newspaper or online. Sign our Open Letter to the U.S. Conference of

Catholic Bishops now, and affirm your personal belief that no one and no

institution should have the power to dictate your choice at the end of your

life.

Thank you,

Barbara Coombs Lee 

President, Compassion & Choices

P.S. I'll keep you posted on developments as this very serious issue unfolds.

Especially at times like this, I am deeply grateful for your support, and

especially your action. Please help us send a powerful message of popular belief

in the right of every American to make his or her own end-of-life choices.

Sign our Open Letter to the Conference of Catholic Bishops now, then forward

this message to your friends and loved ones.

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Moderator's Note: The hyperlinks do not display. Please go to

www.compassionandchoices.org for more information.