Lawyers in Canada were just enlisted into the culture of death, demonstrating why Massachusetts should not legalize assisted suicide.
In an earlier post, I remarked on "the potential, corrupting influence of legalization of assisted suicide on the legal profession." I speculated that "as legalization statutes involve complex legal norms, they will necessarily involve lawyers." I posed a hypothetical "lawyer who succeeds in persuading a court that the patient is acting voluntarily but turns out to be wrong in fact."
Good news comes out of California in the case reported in the NBP last week. A state court judge had indicated that he will not coerce a Catholic hospital to perform a sterilization procedure that violates Roman Catholic moral doctrine. That judge has now affirmed his earlier ruling, denying a request for an injunction that would have compelled the hospital to violate the conscience of those who operate the hospital.
The plaintiff, Rebecca Chamorro, asked the judge to require the hospital to perform the procedure on the ground that refusing to do it would constitute sex discrimination. The judge observed that the hospital's policies prohibit hospital employees from performing sterilization of both men and women, consistent with Catholic teaching, and sensibly reasoned that refusing to participate in Chamorro's sterilization was therefore not discrimination on the basis of sex.
