Dear Pro-life Friend,

I am writing to tell you about an ad that has been placed in the June/July issue of the "Montana Senior News" (ad printed below).

We are all aware of the gravity of the daily slaughter of unborn babies through abortion, and we have each likely taken some kind of action to draw attention to this horror, and to the lies upon which public support for this crime is based. In Montana we now have a new attack on truth, morality and the dignity of each human life -- the judicial opinion that it is not against public policy for doctors to assist in the suicide of a patient. Physician-assisted suicide (PAS) has come to Montana.

Even though, in the opinion of some legal experts, doctors are still liable to arrest and prosecution if they participate in PAS, an organization called Compassion & Choices (formerly called the Hemlock Society) has activated a Montana branch and is promoting, through ads in newspapers, TV and radio, and public information sessions held around the state, the idea of people choosing when and how to die as a matter of self-determination, dignity and freedom. In fact, they call the choice to end one's life on one's own terms a right. Like all the causes of the culture of death, they make wrong sound so reasonably right.

As people who care about life and truth, we need to speak up and stand against this further intrusion of the culture of death into our nation and our state. Compassion & Choices placed an ad in the June/July issue of the "Montana Senior News" (see p. 49 of the paper). Another ad was placed in the same issue (on p. 3 of the paper; the ad is also included at the end of this email) to present "the rest of the story" regarding PAS (e.g., how it has morphed into euthanasia in Holland, where people who are ill now are reluctant to be hospitalized because they fear their lives will be ended there). Experience has shown that one's choice to end one's own life ultimately becomes someone else's choice to end other people's lives because they are "too old," "too ill," "too burdensome," or their chronic condition is "too costly." Compassion & Choice does not acknowledge such realities in their appeals.

We want to continue to counter the message of Compassion & Choice with messages that present the dangers inherent in PAS. We also want to draw attention to this issue before people choose for whom they will vote into our Montana legislature for the 2011 session. Action needs to be taken on PAS by the legislative branch of our government, for as things stand now, PAS is neither a law nor a defined entity. PAS needs to be voted in or out by the people of Montana through their legislators. So the people need to know the full ramifications of PAS before they go to the polls on June 8.

That is why a full-page ad was printed in the June/July issue of the "Montana Senior" newspaper (which is read by the people most targeted by PAS). There will also be new ads in the August/September and October/November issues (with an eye to the November general election). Each ad costs $1,000. We are asking anyone who is willing and able to help support this information outreach by giving whatever you can. If anyone is able to contribute a significant amount: 10 people contributing $100 each for each ad, or 20 people contributing $50 each for each ad, would cover the entire cost. But please give whatever you can. We will keep you posted regarding the funds we receive, and if we collect more than is needed for these ads, we would gladly do other information outreach projects in other media.

Your donation to this effort is very important because, if we do not make the truth about PAS known, there is no place else that people will learn it (the media has yet to give any of the information presented in our ad).

Jesus said, "Whoever acknowledges Me before men, I will also acknowledge him before My Father in heaven. But whoever disowns Me before men, I will disown him before My Father in heaven" (Mt 10:32-33). Jesus also said, "I am the way and the truth and the life" (Jn 14:6). Since Jesus told us that He is Truth, we can know, therefore, that when we acknowledge Truth before men, we are acknowledging Jesus. When we fail to acknowledge Truth before men, we are failing to acknowledge Jesus. So let us allow our love for Jesus to move us to acknowledge Truth in regards to PAS. Please pray that PAS will not become the law of Montana or the law of our land. And if you are able to help us carry out this campaign of truth regarding PAS, please make out your check to SANDY WEDEL (who is collecting the money to pay for the ads on behalf of a group of concerned individual Christian people) and send your donation to:

Sandy Wedel
PO Box 54
Black Eagle, MT 59414-0054

Please write "PAS" on the memo line of your check.

I will keep informed those who donate money for this exactly how much money has been collected. Any amount over the cost of the June/July "Montana Senior News" ad will be put toward the August/September ad.

Please pass this information on to those you know who would want to know this information and have the opportunity to help. If you have any questions, please call Sandy at the number below.

Thank you. God bless you for your commitment to Him and to life!

Sandy Wedel
727-3773

================

"MONTANA SENIOR NEWS" AD

Physician-Assisted Suicide... Choice or False Promise?

Physician-assisted suicide is heralded as "death with dignity" by those who promote it. At first blush that may sound fine. Physician-assisted suicide, however, actually raises many problems. Consider the following:

- The U.S. Declaration of Independence guarantees us the inalienable rights of LIFE, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. If the right to life is devalued because a "right to death" is given equal importance, could other rights be abridged in other areas? Once the boundary between healing and killing is compromised, would other formerly-secure values in our culture be put up for grabs? For example, in the late 1900s, Holland legalized doctor-assisted suicide. This quickly moved to legalized euthanasia, intended for use only in cases where people were in severe pain or were desperately ill. Within a few years after that, however, Dutch policy and practice devolved to allow the killing of people with disabilities, and even physically healthy people with psychological difficulties. Literally thousands of patients have been killed in Holland by their doctors without their request.

- Could the physician-assisted suicide issue jeopardize or likely infringe upon the conscience rights of Montana medical practitioners, who might be asked (or perhaps even forced by a court) to murder a patient (a serious erosion of their Constitutional rights!)?

- In these days of fear and fighting over health care costs, could people of any age who have lingering illnesses (e.g., recurring cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, etc.) or who have a poor prognosis be branded an economic liability and encouraged to altruistically end their lives to save many health dollars?

- Montana voters have never voted to legalize physician-assisted suicide. The Montana State Legislature has never voted to legalize physician-assisted suicide. One lone district court judge in Montana decided to unleash this Constitutional issue in our state by judicial opinion. The Montana Supreme Court avoided the Constitutional issue but instead ruled that physician-assisted suicide is not against public policy. That is not how our government was set up to work! If our judges are allowed to continue "making laws" from the bench like this, our Constitutional government will continue to erode, as will our rights.

- BE ON ALERT to those who are calling good and desirable a practice that has so many bad and undesirable realities. What starts out by encouraging YOUR choice about ending your life may end up being, in actuality, SOMEONE ELSE'S CHOICE about the end of your life. Become informed and proactive during this election year -- YOUR LIFE MAY DEPEND UPON IT!