Over the years I’ve often been told that human life issues, such as abortion and euthanasia, are not what the church of Jesus Christ should be about. I was even told by a seminary student at my church, “These issues distract us from the main thing.”

Today, November 10, 1994, the outcome has been declared official. The state of Oregon became the first jurisdiction in the history of the human race to legalize physician-assisted suicide.

This article was written before Ballot Measure 16 passed in Oregon in 1995.

I used this article in a course I taught at Multnomah Bible College—Soc 111, Contemporary Social Ethics.