Euthanasia

POLICY ON EUTHANASIA

1. The Colorado Right to Life Committee is opposed to the direct killing of any human being because of age, infirmity, incapacity, disease, or any other reason where human life may be thought by some to be no longer meaningful.

2. The Colorado Right to Life Committee is opposed to any legislation or any legal action which would encourage suicide in any form or for any reason, whether assisted or unassisted. Conversely, CRLC supports all laws and practices that prohibit or otherwise seek to prevent suicide.

3. The Colorado Right to Life Committee is opposed to any laws which would give force and effect to "living wills" or "right to die" provisions because they represent an extension of the death mentality under the guise of humane conduct. Such laws inhibit good medical practice and undermine the doctor-patient relationship.

4. The Colorado Right to Life Committee recognizes a distinction between care as opposed to treatment. While the treatment of a person who is either terminally ill or thought to be terminally ill should remain a matter of sound medical judgment and include the informed consent of the patient, care should be ongoing until natural death.

5. It is the policy of the Colorado Right to Life Committee to encourage, support, promote, and upgrade all laws and practices to ensure that all care and procedures necessary for the protection and well being of each human being is afforded. This includes where informed consent is not possible as in the newborn, infants, or any other human beings who by reason of age, disease, accident, or infirmity are unable to give informed consent.

6. Any attempt to distinguish between "ordinary" and "extraordinary" treatment to preserve human life tends to confuse rather than to clarify the medical and moral issues involved in the protection and preservation of human life and should be avoided. The Colorado Right to Life Committee, therefore, supports those laws and practices which seek to protect and preserve innocent human life.

Adopted by CRLC Board of Directors
February 28, 1976
Amended March 14, 1992

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