NCPD calls on our whole Catholic faith community to remain united in affirming the dignity of every person—regardless of their disabilities or capacity for independence. NCPD staunchly refutes historic notions of the concept of "life unworthy of life."
Current physician-assisted suicide (PAS) discussions happening around the country and the world remind us of what Pope John Paul II (Evangelium Vitae 64) identified as "The Culture of Death" which he said "sees the growing number of elderly and disabled people as intolerable and too burdensome. These people are very often isolated by their families and by society, which is organized almost exclusively on the basis of criteria of productive efficiency, according to which a hopelessly impaired life no longer has any value.” This is the crux of physician-assisted suicide, despite claims from PAS proponents who frame it as an aid in dying for terminally ill individuals in the final stage of life, and a matter of self-determination.
Physician-assisted suicide has become marketed as "death with dignity"—directly refuting the value of life of the most vulnerable amongst us. Therefore PAS legislation poses a direct and grave threat to life specifically for individuals with disabilities, elders, and individuals needing supports and assistance.
