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Article: Suicide debate reaches Suprme Court. (right to die)
- Article from:
- National Catholic Reporter
- Article date:
- January 17, 1997
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1997 National Catholic Reporter. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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For most of human history in the West one's life was not one's own. A human being belonged to king or country and, above all, to God.
On Wednesday Jan. 8, the U.S. Supreme Court heard a challenge to that notion as it listened to arguments on whether the terminally ill have a constitutional right to kill themselves with the help of a doctor.
The case, involving Washington and New York state laws, could be to doctor-assisted suicide what the Roe v. Wade decision was to abortion.
If the court agrees that human beings are autonomous, the individual--not the church, state or forces of nature--will have final say over life and death.
To ...