California protesters question suicide law

The California Catholic Conference joined other suicide opponents in a strongly worded statement expressing deep concerns about the state’s two-year-old assisted suicide law. 

“There is far too much still not known about how this law is put into practice — especially as it pertains to disabled, elderly and other populations,” the group stated following a Jan. 24 hearing in the state capitol held by the law’s author, Assembly member Susan Eggman, D-Stockton. 

“California is failing to properly investigate some very fundamental questions such as whether patients were coerced into the procedure or somehow influenced and, especially for Medi-Cal patients, whether they had the option of good, effective palliative care,” the group said. 

The group said the hearing suggested “there is a lack of interest in presenting a variety of viewpoints” on the impact of the legislation, noting that all the legislators at the hearing “either co-authored or voted” for the suicide legislation.