A national coalition of pro-life nurses says they “will not comply” with Delware’s assisted suicide bill that passed in the Senate Tuesday, according to The Christian Post website, as the Diocese of Wilmington is calling on people of faith to urge Democratic Gov. John Carney to veto the legislation.
After first defeating the bill in the state senate, the measure passed in a new vote June 25 with 11 Democrats voting in favor of it in the 21-member state senate. The proposed law goes next to the desk of Gov. John Carney, who has previously said he opposes the bill. Carney could sign it, veto it or let it become law without his signature.
The National Association of Pro-Life Nurses, which has advocated against assisted suicide legislation for over 30 years, condemned the bill, according to the news website, calling it a “moral catastrophe that corrupts the very soul of healthcare.”
Marie Ashby, NAPN’s executive director, argued in a statement to The Christian Post that the bill “preys” on “the desperate and devalues the disadvantaged,” adding that it offers “poison as a perverse form of mercy” to people society deems “inconvenient.”
“Legitimate healthcare heals; it doesn’t kill,” Ashby added. “This law perverts our profession’s sacred duty, turning nurses from guardians of life into agents of death. We will not be silent. We will not comply.”
The Catholic Diocese of Wilmington was among numerous organizations that opposed the bill, which was similar to one defeated earlier in the year in Maryland, where the diocese includes churches, schools and organizations along the Eastern Shore.
Bishop Koenig spoke out last week, wanting people in the diocese to know that life from birth until natural death is how we were meant to live and no law should allow people to take their own lives.
