In the Light of the Law: Proposal: Impose excommunication for euthanasia

Dr. Edward N. Peters of In the Light of the Law puts forth the proposal that those who commit euthanasia should be excommunicated.

For some months I have been researching and writing an article on euthanasia in canon law. I hoped against hope that it might remain an academic exercise, but (to judge from, say, this report on the practice of euthanasia in Belgium) the speed with which the Western, specifically Christian, protection of innocent life is collapsing suggests that one of my projected canonical recommendations deserves an earlier hearing than appearance in a peer-reviewed journal can afford.

Simply put, I recommend that euthanasia be made an excommunicable offense under the 1983 Code of Canon Law.

I hope his proposal is given serious consideration in light of his arguments.