Natural Birth ’Til Natural Death

Radio Commentary, 90.7, 91.7 New Life FM, December 2, 2011
By Sue Ella Deadwyler

Good morning, Jim. Since time began, folks have been expected to live until they die naturally or in war or in a fatal accident. But 30 years ago Dr. Jack Kevorkian raised the question, “If we can aid people into coming into the world, why can’t we aid them in exiting the world?” And in 1990 he was crisscrossing Michigan in a rusty Volkswagen van, hauling a machine to help people inject themselves with a lethal drug.

He became known as “Dr. Death” and was soon charged with first-degree murder for helping an Alzheimer’s patient kill herself. Those charges were dropped but, later, he spent eight years in prison for second-degree murder and was paroled in 2007. He spoke on the lecture circuit for a while and ran for Congress in 2008, but lost.

The actions of Jack Kevorkian prompted states all over the country to outlaw assisted suicide and in 1994 it became a felony in Georgia. Ironically or providentially, Kevorkian’s death last month brought him back into the news, just as the Georgia Supreme Court was scheduled to decide the constitutionality of advertising or offering assisted suicide services, which the Final Exit Network was doing in our state.

Since Georgia law prohibits not only the practice of assisted suicide, it prohibits the “advertising or offering” assisted suicide services, which prompted members of the Final Exit Network to challenge it as an unconstitutional restriction of their freedom of speech. Groups in favor of the law include Not Dead Yet, Georgia ADAPT and Disabled Queers in Action. They hope assisted suicide remains against the law, even if the Court rules that the advertising part is unconstitutional.

The Network is, also, charged with death-scene tampering to make assisted suicides appear to be natural deaths. In addition to that, Network personnel told an undercover GBI agent they would “help” hold his hands down so he could not “inadvertently” rip off the helium-filled bag that would cause his death. Clearly indicating that assisted suicide services would be forcibly completed, even for patients who try to change their mind at the end.

On November 7th, the Georgia Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Atlanta and, in coming months, the justices will decide whether the Final Exit Network should be prosecuted. Could it be that advertising an illegal service is protected by the First Amendment? Meanwhile, Dr. Death’s warped question brings me to a flip-side thought. “Since society has decided it’s unacceptable to help someone commit suicide, why is it all right to kill a person before birth or during birth?” For Georgia Insight I’m Sue Ella Deadwyler, your Capitol correspondent.