Bishops praise Virginia Legislature for halting assisted suicide bill

Two Virginia bishops are hailing the halt of legislation that would have legalized assisted suicide in that state.

“Human life is sacred and no one should ever be abandoned or discarded,” said Bishop Michael F. Burbidge of Arlington and Bishop Barry C. Knestout of Richmond in a joint Feb. 18 statement.

SB359, which would have permitted doctors to prescribe lethal, self-administered drugs to terminally ill patients deemed to have less than six months to live, failed to advance in a full state senate committee hearing Feb. 5.

Two days prior, the bill had cleared a senate health subcommittee hearing at which both opponents and supporters gave testimony.

The proposed bill, sponsored by Democratic Sen. Jennifer Boysko, would require patients to make both oral and written requests for assisted suicide, with the opportunity to rescind the petition at any time.

The bill also specified protection for participating health care providers from criminal, civil and disciplinary action, while allowing objecting medical professionals to refuse to participate.

Bishop Burbidge and Bishop Knestout in their statement expressed gratitude that the Senate bill, and its companion in the House, will not advance this year in the Legislature.

“We are grateful that committees in both chambers decided not to proceed with this legislation after weighing the grave concerns expressed by so many people throughout our Commonwealth,” the bishops said. “We greatly appreciate all those who contacted their legislators to express their concerns, and we would like especially to thank those senators and delegates who advocated for vulnerable and underserved Virginians and their families.”

They noted, “Many legislators on both sides of the aisle recognized the serious risks this measure would have imposed upon vulnerable Virginians — including people with disabilities, people with mental illnesses, the elderly, and those who lack access to healthcare.”

The bishops stressed in their statement that “every suicide results in a tragic loss that can place families, friends, coworkers, and whole communities in long-term grief.

“Virginia should always seek to prevent suicide, and never engage in or promote suicide,” said Bishop Burbidge and Bishop Knestout.

On Feb. 6, New York became the 13th state in the nation to legalize assisted suicide.

The Catholic Church opposes assisted suicide and euthanasia in strong terms, with the Second Vatican Council in “Gaudium et Spes,” its pastoral constitution on the Church and the modern world, condemning “euthanasia or wilful self-destruction” among the moral “infamies” that “poison human society” and are a “supreme dishonor to the Creator.”

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