Once a society accepts killing as an answer to human suffering, the caste of killables never stops expanding. Thus, in the Netherlands and Belgium, doctors not only euthanize the terminally ill, but also the elderly “tired of life,” the disabled, and the mentally ill.

American advocates respond to these facts on the ground — not a slippery slope argument — by arguing that we are different here. After all, they note, those things are not happening in Oregon.

To which I always say, “Not yet.”

You see, the American euthanasia movement is running a well thought out political con game. Compassion and Choices and other assisted suicide advocacy groups are involved in the great majority of Oregon assisted suicides. Since the Oregon oversight system relies almost wholly on doctor self-reporting, we only see what they want us to see. And one thing they don’t want us to see — or to be put into law for now — is an expansion of killable categories. That would give away the game.

But, as the saying goes, loose lips sink ships. One assisted suicide advocate almost blew their cover in an interview about an unsuccessful Oregon proposal to expand eligibility for legal assisted suicide to Alzheimer’s patients. Note why an advocate opposed the proposal. From the story in the Oregonian:

The national Death with Dignity advocacy group joined the opposition. Steve Telfer, president of the board of the Portland-based Death with Dignity National Center, which helped create the original law, said politicians in Oregon shouldn’t try to expand the law because that effort could jeopardize attempts to introduce physician-assisted suicide to other states.

In other words, it is not for principled reasons that these suicide advocates oppose expanding the law beyond the current limitations. Restraint is just a political tactic, a temporary expedient deemed necessary to gain the trust of a very wary public.

If and when assisted suicide is legalized in more states, bet on the killable caste expanding here just as it has overseas. That’s the logical consequence of the euthanasia premise. Make no mistake, it is a broad, medicalized killing license that, in their heart of hearts, most assisted suicide advocates are really after.

Image: Hells Canyon, Oregon, by Staplegunther at en.wikipedia [CC BY-SA 3.0 or GFDL], from Wikimedia Commons.