When the eagles are silent the parrots begin to jabber -Winston Churchill

In 1994 Oregon legalized doctor-prescribed suicide, enacting what the state proudly calls Death with Dignity. Any adult who requests the end of her/his life can have it handed to them on a silver platter — or, to be precise, a small orange bottle.

All it takes is a few formal requests and you have the state’s permission to overdose on drugs.

Without this prescription, however, suicide is (appropriately) regarded as a horrible reality. Policemen intervene when they receive a suicide call. Posting life-saving words of encouragement at suicide hotspots is praised. There are national suicide hotlines to prevent people from taking their own life.

So why are we allowing doctors to prescribe death? Why aren’t we working to help those who are hurting instead?

There is more behind legal suicide than the “right to die.” Because when encouraging someone to commit suicide becomes “compassionate care,” a greater death is at stake.

There’s the death of human integrity and patient-centered health care.

Our country must understand the consequences of legalizing physician-assisted suicide because it pushes us over a very slippery slope. Because at the bottom of the mudslide is, well, a mass grave.

As councils, organizations, and movements working to neutralize voters about this issue, I’m working to spread the word about the truth of physician-assisted suicide.

Because your voice matters. Your vote counts.

Your voice can save lives.