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House Puts Brakes on DC Assisted Suicide, Now It's up to Senate to End It

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The U.S. Senate is scheduled to make a decision on whether to continue physician-assisted suicide in the District of Colombia after the House repealed the law.

The "Death with Dignity Act" went into effect on Feb. 18, but the House of Representatives nullified the act on Sept. 14 when they approved a spending bill that would block five laws affecting the district.

The bill essentially pulls back on spending-related measures including those that subsidize abortion for low-income residents and the regulation of the sale of marijuana, according to the Washington Post.

It is the first time a congressional chamber has voted to repeal the "Death with Dignity Act" which allows terminally ill patients to request help from their doctor to kill themselves.

Now, it is up to the Senate to act. If they approve identical measures it would keep the law from going into effect.

Conservatives hope the legalization of assisted suicide is short-lived in the district.

"The so-called 'Death with Dignity Act' is a contradiction in terms," Russell Moore, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, said. "It commodifies death into a marketable good at the expense of human dignity."

"My prayer is that the Senate would follow the House's lead and send the signal that our nation's capital would defend and honor human life rather than market death," he told the Baptist Press.

Christians believe the law undermines the sanctity of life.

"Exploiting life for the sake of an efficient death lies about dignity," Nathan Knight, pastor of Restoration Church, said in written comments to the Baptist Press. "Dignity is seen in the life of Christ, who was given a death warrant, even requested to be released and yet wisely saw it through in order that by his unassisted death life would come."

"May we as Christians understand the same. May we mournfully embrace the inefficiency of death for the purpose of honoring the dignity of life," he added.

Assisted suicide is legal in California, Colorado, Montana, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington.
 

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