Brittany Maynard grabbed the public’s attention with a “what-would-you-do-if-she-were your wife/daughter/friend” kind of urgency with her very public decision to end her life to avoid the pain and prolonged death that was in store for her from an incurable brain tumor, as reported by Washington Times. The right for mentally competent Oregon natives who have only six months to live and want to opt to end their lives through medically assisted suicide has been on the books since 1994, and other states have been attempting to adopt similar laws.
Brittany Maynard, who was a newlywed, had support of her husband and parents and took several charming selfies put not only a more human, but a much prettier face on the “right to die” movement than Jack Kervorkian, who assisted in 130 assisted suicides and passed away from cancer at the age of 83 in 2011, still plagued by the nickname “Dr. Death.”
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So if assisted suicide was legal in Oregon, what’s with all the hullabaloo? The answer lies in the activities of an organization called Compassion & Choices, a revived version of the Hemlock Society, which wanted to make Brittany Maynard a poster child for the Die with Dignity movement. Compassion & Choices receives substantial backing from George Soros. Wesley J. Smith, a euthanasia opponent, said, “It’s organized and funded by Soros money, and they’re using the Maynard case as their launching pad. Let’s think about this for a second; There have been over 700 assisted suicides in Oregon, and not one of them got this kind of attention. What you have is a movement that looks around for just the right kind of emotional kick. You don’t get this kind of international, high-profile media by accident.”
“Right to Die” legislation was on the Massachusetts ballot, but was narrowly defeated 51% to 49%. In the state, Not Dead Yet, representing the disabled communities anti-euthanasia stance, said such legislation could be vulnerable to abuse and error and result in people being killed against their will.
