Winona-Rochester Bishop Robert Barron uses platform to oppose physician-assisted suicide proposal

Jan. 10—ROCHESTER — With less than a month before the start of the Minnesota legislative session, Winona-Rochester Bishop Robert Barron is speaking out against

legislation that would allow terminally ill adults the option to choose medical aid in dying,

saying such law would put Minnesota on the "slipperiest of slopes."

He is urging Catholics to oppose the proposal.

In a Jan. 4, 2024, article on his Word on Fire website, Barron said the problem with physician-assisted suicide is that it raises personal choice and autonomy to a "supreme value" over whether the thing being chosen is good or evil.

The bishop's web post was titled, "It's Not Your Life, It's Not Your Death, It's Not Your Choice."

"Does my life belong to me, or is it a gift from God? Is my death a matter of my personal choice, or is it under God's providence and at his disposal?" Barron said.

"True freedom is ordered toward moral value and ultimately to the supreme value, who is God," the bishop said.

Barron said he has a familiarity with such legislation from previous Catholic assignments. A proposal similar to one considered in Minnesota passed in California. Before being appointed Winona-Rochester bishop in June 2022, Barron served as auxiliary bishop of Los Angeles.

The proposal is supported by local legislators, including Rep. Andy Smith and Sen. Liz Boldon, both DFLers.

Boldon, a nurse who has cared for patients at the end of their lives, said she is a strong believer in the value of personal autonomy.

"I think Minnesotans have made it very clear that they want medical decisions to be made between patients and providers," she said. "And they don't want politicians or religious institutions to be making those decisions or weighing in on those decisions."

Although such legislation is getting considerable attention, legislators say the proposal is unlikely to pass in the upcoming legislative session that starts on Feb. 10. The DFL has a one-vote majority in the state Senate, 34 to 33. Republicans have not shown any sign of supporting the bill, so a single defection by a DFLer would deny it a pathway to passage.

One DFL senator has already spoken in opposition to the proposal. In a Star Tribune editorial last month, DFL Sen. John Hoffman of Champlin called the proposal "dangerous" and one that "would likely have serious consequences for vulnerable populations."

Polling shows a clear divide between the public and religious and faith organizations on the issue. More than 73% of people polled at the 2023 Minnesota State Fair favored the proposal.

But most religious groups and faiths generally oppose assisted suicide and euthanasia.

The Assemblies of God (the largest Pentecostal denomination in the U.S.), the Catholic Church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Judaism and Islam view the taking of one's life as contrary to core teachings or violations of God's commandments, according to a Pew Research Center report published in 2013.

"Muslims believe that life is sacred and comes from God; therefore, it is a sin to take a life," said David Stephen Powers, a professor of Near Eastern studies at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.

Physician-assisted suicide is legal in 10 states and the District of Columbia. It is an option given to individuals by law in Colorado, California, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Maine, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington, according to a CNN "Physician-Assisted Suicide Fast Facts" webpage.

The method for carrying out assisted death varies from state to state, but mainly involves a prescription from a licensed physician approved by the state in which the patient is a resident.

Barron recalled how the battle in support of assisted suicide was waged in California by highlighting personal choice. One time, while driving through his pastoral region, Barron spotted a pro-euthanasia billboard that proclaimed: "My Life, my death, my Choice."

It put him in mind of a remark by St. Paul that underscored that life is a gift from God. He said the Minnesota proposal is written in such a way as to "assuage moral anxieties." It seeks to ensure that only those with a terminal diagnosis and "who are making the decision in complete autonomy" would be eligible for assisted death.

But in many countries in Europe and Canada where physician-assisted suicide is permitted, the restrictions have been gradually relaxed so that others, including the elderly and those experiencing depression and severe anxiety, can find themselves as candidates for this form of "treatment," Barron said.

"Though the advocates of medically assisted suicide will deny it until the cows come home, this law places the entire state directly on the slipperiest of slopes," he said.