The following comes from a June 5 LA Times article by Patrick McGreevy:
As one of her last acts before she took her own life, Brittany Maynard talked by telephone with California Gov. Jerry Brown about her desire to see her home state adopt an aid-in-dying law, her husband says.
Maynard is the 29-year-old former Californian who decided to move to Oregon after she was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer so she could take advantage of that state’s law allowing physicians to prescribe lethal doses of drugs so patients can hasten their own deaths.
Dan Diaz, her husband, told The Times that Maynard was “appreciative of the opportunity to give the governor a firsthand account of why she was in favor of similar legislation in California.”
Evan Westrup, a Brown spokesman, confirmed that the governor spoke to Maynard but said the governor has not taken a position on legislation.
“He was very generous in taking her call,” Diaz said. “She was able to say why hopefully he would consider why this is right for the state of California as well,” Diaz said. “It was a good conversation.”
The bill is opposed by the California Catholic Conference. Brown nearly became a Catholic priest when he was younger. “This is a governor who will struggle with this issue, given his background,” Sen. Lois Wolk (D-Davis), a bill co-author, said in March at a hearing on the measure.
Once you legislate euthanasia it is a slippery slope from there. Before you know it your heirs will be offing you with medical certificates and all. Just like in Holland and Belgium. Next, retarded children. We voted this down some 20 years ago but times and morality are changing. This woman could have died with dignity missing the urge to publicize her death let alone wish it on others. Jerry Brown trained as a Jesuit so that tells us that we should be very, very worried.
Euthanasia is a terrible thing, for a so-called “civilized” society! It is also a sin in most religions– including our Catholic faith! A Mortal Sin! “Thou shalt not kill,” is the fifth of the Ten Commandments! One cannot play God. One must respect life— from the moment of conception, to natural death! Only God can make a life– and only God can take a life! It is a part of our responsibility, as Christians, to bravely take up our daily, often-painful crosses in life, and endure all we must, offering up our pain sacrificially to God, on our long journey to Heaven– just as Christ told us to do!