In the movie It’s A Wonderful Life during the opening, St. Joseph is telling an angel named Clarence about a man that “will be thinking seriously of throwing away God’s greatest gift.” Clarence replies, “Oh, dear, dear! His life!” These two lines set up the rest of the movie pointing the audience to remember the preciousness of human life. This message is so important especially now as the battle to protect that preciousness is waging. One such battle is occurring in the small state of New Jersey.

The New Jersey State Legislature has a decision of tremendous gravity to make in the coming months concerning assisted suicide. Recently, the bill called Aid in Dying for the Terminally Ill Act formerly named the Death with Dignity Act was passed through the Senate Health, Human Services, and Senior Citizen Committee. Next it will go before the New Jersey’s State Senate where it’s fate will be decided.

As the bill asserts, the “Aid in Dying for the Terminally Ill Act permits qualified terminally ill patient to self-administer medication to end life in a humane and dignified manner.” People who support assisted suicide see it as a compassionate choice for the terminally ill who are suffering great pain. These supporters want to give the terminally ill autonomy over their lives. Advocates of this bill who want death with dignity seem to be blind to the dark nature of assisted suicide. Also, present at the proceedings were those who opposed the bill including pro-life groups such as New Jersey Right to Life and disability rights groups such as Second Thoughts, and a few Orthodox Jewish Organizations.

All the testimonies were insightful about the problems that come with legalizing assisted suicide. Anita Cameron, one lady with numerous disabilities insightfully testified that:

“Legalizing assisted suicide puts people with disabilities and seniors at great risk because we can be coerced by dishonest, greedy and/or abusive family members, caretakers or heirs into ending our lives when we really don’t want to. Though assisted suicide is meant to be for those considered terminal, too often, people with disabilities have been diagnosed as terminal when in fact, we are not. The very vast majority of doctors do not see, nor are they trained to see the lives of people with disabilities as lives worth living.”

Various reasons including manipulation, misdiagnoses, and being in the care of those who do not see your worth all point towards the dark realities of assisted suicide. One of those dark realities is that the reason people argue in favor of assisted suicide is not the chief reason people actually choose it. Kate Ryan, a woman with Autism Spectrum Disorder, agreed with this when she testified that:

“When people in Oregon choose physician assisted suicide, they rarely cite pain as a reason. Instead, the top five are loss of autonomy, dignity, control of bodily functions, being unable to do activities and feeling like a burden. These are not medical problems. They are societal problems. They are, moreover, societal problems that can be fixed. It is indeed possible to live a very full life with significant disabilities. But you can’t do that unless you are living.”

She lists loss of dignity being one of the top reasons people opt for an assisted suicide; this is ironic considering that this bill is also referred to as the Death with Dignity Act.

People who support assisted suicide are either pursuing their own selfish agendas or equivocating on what the dignity of the person means. They would take dignity to signify respecting a person’s right to choose how they want to live and what they want. One of the problems with this is that it could easily lead someone to decide their own worth. If they see themselves as not able to live the way they want or do what they want then they might think they are worthless. Imagine if all of humanity had that view, then people would look upon one another in terms of what they can do. The measure of humanity would be on a utilitarian scale. This kind of view encourages discrimination against those most vulnerable in society: the sick, the elderly, the disabled, etc.

My heart is saddened to even think about this; thankfully, the real meaning of a person’s dignity is connected to something less subjective. In Catholicism, human life is sacred and that is partly because of the origin of every individual person, God, as well as the end of every person, which is to know and to love God. People have dignity just in virtue of them being a person. If everyone believed this, discrimination would not happen and the value of life would be treasured.    The issue of assisted suicide is concerned with the dignity of the person in that it violates it. If New Jersey passed this bill allowing for assisted suicide, it would enable the spreading of a false notion of the dignity of the human person. The effects would be devastating.   Fortunately, there is hope that the bill will not be passed after it reaches New Jersey’s State Senate. Governor Chris Christie in the passed has stated his opposition to the bill; therefore, if the senate decides to pass the bill, there is the likelihood that Gov. Christie will veto it. Hopefully, those in authority have the same realizations that George Bailey does about the value of life and that is to vote against the legalization of assisted suicide.