The state of New Mexico has caved on its demand that doctors help patients kill themselves.
Facing a lawsuit over its requirement, the state changed its law so that medical professionals now are allowed to decline to participate in assisted suicides based on their conscience or religious beliefs.
The word comes in an announcement from the Alliance Defending Freedom about a lawsuit it has dropped because of the state’s change.
“We commend the New Mexico legislature and Gov. Lujan Grisham for enacting this critical law to protect health professionals who object to assisted suicide for reasons of conscience or faith,” explained Mark Lippelmann, counsel for the ADF. “Dr. Lacy and the thousands of other Christian medical professionals we represent believe every life is sacred and full of inherent value, and that assisted suicide ends an innocent human life without justification. The government should never force doctors to surrender their religious, moral, and ethical convictions.”
The Dr. Lacy is Mark Lacy, a plaintiff in the action brought by ADF.
Lawyers there had filed a case against the state “for forcing doctors to facilitate physician-assisted suicide against their religious or ethical convictions,” the organization reported.
Now there’s been a stipulated dismissal because of the change by the state.
The ADF explained, “Although assisted suicide violates medical ethics, New Mexico enacted the Elizabeth Whitefield End-of-Life Options Act to legalize the practice in 2021. The law required physicians who are conscientious objectors to facilitate suicide by informing patients about assisted suicide and referring patients to physicians and organizations who will participate in ending their lives. If physicians declined to participate based on their religious beliefs or professional ethics, they could have faced substantial criminal, civil, administrative, and professional liability, including risking losing their medical licenses.”
The lawsuit charged that violated the religious rights of doctors, and as a result the New Mexico legislature change the law.
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“As Christian health care professionals, it is our aim to serve every patient with excellence and compassion, as image-bearers of God,” said Dr. Jeffrey Barrows, senior vice president of bioethics and public policy for CMDA, another plaintiff. “We strive to perform our work according to the dictates of our faith and professional ethics, including the belief that every life is precious. We’re grateful New Mexico quickly responded to our lawsuit by enacting protections for conscientious physicians.”
Such demands are becoming more and more common around the world, especially in regions dominated by liberal ideologies such as in Europe. Sometimes they’re by government fiat, sometimes by orders from medical associations.
One recent scenario developed in Canada, where a proposal would have doctors giving lethal injections to newborns if they are seriously ill.
The Daily Mail pointed out Canada started allowing euthanasia in 2016, when citizens were assured it was only for seriously ill adults who needed to end their suffering. Now, however, children could be targeted and the government is paying for an “activity book” teaching children about assisted suicide.
“Now we’ve legalized euthanasia, everything’s turning upside down,” Alex Schadenberg, director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, a campaign group, told DailyMail.com. “It used to be seen as a last resort. Now, we think in terms of denying people a service that should be available to them.”
Now, thousands of lives are lost each year to the process there.
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