Nationally

The U.S. Constitution allows the states to prohibit assisted suicide, according to two 1997 decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court. In Vacco v. Quill and Washington v. Glucksberg, the Supreme Court ruled that assisted suicide is not a constitutional right.

The Court also recognized the distinction between suicide, involving the direct and intentional taking of life, and decisions to refuse treatment or use pain medication, which may indirectly result in hastened death but not involve an intent to take life.

The U.S. Congress approved by an overwhelming margin in 1997 a law barring the funding of assisted suicide with federal dollars.

Currently, assisting suicide is a crime in all but one state, directly banned by statute in 38 states. Oregon voters have approved a law that legalizes physician-assisted suicide for persons with terminal conditions. Several persons have already relied on the law to commit suicide with physician-prescribed drugs. Voters in Michigan rejected by an overwhelming margin a similar ballot proposal on November 3, 1998. Efforts to legalize assisted suicide by referendum in Maine, by legislation in California, and by judicial challenge in Alaska are currently underway.

The question remains whether federal law allows the states to permit assisted suicide and under what circumstances. By classifying persons with terminal conditions as eligible for suicide assistance, while continuing to treat suicide assistance involving non-terminally ill suicide victims as a crime, the Oregon law raises serious equal protection questions. The U.S. Department of Justice has announced that it will not enforce federal laws governing the dispensing of dangerous drugs against Oregon doctors who participate in legalized assisted suicide. Congress is considering legislation, backed by the American Medical Association and the National Hospice Organization, to override the Justice Department.

Massachusetts Law

Assisting suicide is a "common law" crime in Massachusetts, meaning that while no state statute bans suicide assistance, the state courts treat it as a crime. The Massachusetts legislature has enacted a statute authorizing a health care proxy to make medical decisions for incapacitated persons. Both the state courts and the proxy statute distinguish choices to refuse medical treatment from suicide. A bill to legalize physician assisted suicide for adults with terminal conditions (H.B. 1543) failed during the 1997-98 state legislative term. No such bill has been filed in the 1999 term.

The Massachusetts Constitution declares that the protection of life is an unalienable right for all persons. A law permitting assisted suicide for the terminally ill harms all eligible persons by treating their right to the protection of life as an alienable, inferior interest. This harm would be inflicted on any unwilling persons with terminal conditions who desire to retain their protected status under the Constitution, and who reject being considered as candidates for killing.

For more information contact:  Massachusetts Catholic Conference, 49 Franklin Street, 3rd Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1304, phone:  617-574-0771  fax:   617-574-9227, email:  staff@macathconf.org