Two Women with Brain Tumors; Two Different Responses

One of my regular readers has asked me to comment here about the case of Brittany Maynard, a young woman who moved from San Francisco to Portland in order to organize an assisted suicide in the state of Oregon where it is legal.

What I would like to do with this first post on the subject is simply to offer the different approaches of two women with brain tumors, Brittany Maynard herself and Maggie Karner.

Since it is Sunday as I write this, I will not retell their stories but allow them to do so:

Brittany’s story is told in her famous YouTube video found here. (Note that the video is sponsored by Compassion and Choices, the organization that absorbed  The Hemlock Society and End-of-Life Choices in 2005).

Maggie writes a personal response in The Federalist here.

What spurred me to include Maggie’s column is that after outlining my own thoughts on the subject, I went online for research and located her account. She covered almost all the bases I had down on my paper, and she comes from a uniquely credible place. I don’t want you to miss her essay.

Tomorrow, I will add a few insights and organizing principles for thinking about planned death from a Christian perspective. It is an important issue not only for Christians but for Americans who wish to live in an ordered and compassionate society.