The California State Legislature has a proposal before it to allow doctor-assisted life-ending and I'm skeptical it will pass. Then again, I was skeptical that my lifetime I'd see a black president, legal gay marriage or the slightest interest in Ant-Man.
I have long been for this and after going through the last years of my mother's life — and seeing so many people like her suffering with no chance of getting better — I am even more for it. My friend Kevin Drum says it's being blocked largely by pressure from the Catholic church and he goes on to say…
If they believe that suicide is a sin, that's fine. They should forbid suicide among Catholics. But I'm not Catholic, and it's no sin for me. So go mind your own business, folks, and represent the will of all Californians, who overwhelmingly support bringing our state into the 21st century.
This is going to be another one of those arguments where people insist on "religious freedom," defining it as their right to not have to see the world not run in accordance with their religion. And we'll probably see someone somewhere point to this proposal and say, "See? They want to set up those Death Panels we warned you about!"