provide us a “well-honed” instinct. Physician-assisted suicide advocates argue that they protect patient autonomy and non-coercion. These same flawed arguments legalized abortion and they are now used to support physician-assisted suicide. David P. Gushee, director of the Center for Christian Leadership at Union University, notes in an article titled “Lies we’ve heard before..”:Interestingly enough so were advocates of abortion; indeed, autonomy, non-coercion, and self-determination are the watchwords of the pro-choice movement. But such autonomy for women facing crisis pregnancies has turned out to be quite elusive. Many women end up at abortion clinics due to pressure from their fathers, husbands, boyfriends, and sexual partners. Just so, we can fully expect that patient autonomy in the area of assisted-suicide will erode under psychological, financial, and social pressures.” (“Lies we’ve heard before…” 2) The writer of the same article completes: Likewise, advocates of full legalization of abortion assumed that the option of abortion would be selected by a small number of women under specialized circumstances. Abortion would be ‘safe, legal, and rare.’ This assumption parallels that of PAS advocates who intend to restrict that procedure to ‘last six months of life’ for certifiably terminally ill patients. However, it is fully to be expected that just as abortion came to be the first rather than last resort for so many, so will PAS grow into a widely used procedure.” (“Lies we’ve heard before…” 2) And this is a fact. Abortion came to be the first resort for many women. As Robert Marquand notes in his article published in “Washington”: “A Cali...
