a.l.o.e.: Local pro-lifers work to bring healing to culture of death

By Magdalin Leonardo, The Catholic Sun
July 19, 2007

When the wife of a critically injured Chandler man recently tried to have his feeding tube removed, parallels to the Terry Schindler Schiavo case were inevitable.

In the case of Jesse Ramirez, however, a life was spared.

Instead of being deprived of food and water, like Schiavo, the Ramirez family successfully petitioned to have their son put back on life support. Ramirez regained consciousness just a few short weeks later, adding more fuel to the fire on the debate of euthanasia and physician assisted suicide.

Groups supporting these deathly measures are alive and well in Arizona and all across America. One such organization called Compassion and Choices, formerly known as The Hemlock Society, is a national organization whose mission is “to improve care and expand choice at the end of life.”

But what about a choice for life? Where can someone find pro-life answers to painful, end-of-life questions?

A new Phoenix-based organization was recently formed to answer this question. Named after the healing desert plant, a.l.o.e. (Abundant Life Outreach and Education) strives to offer a pro-life perspective on the issues of suffering and death in a culture of death.

According to Colleen Valdivia, a.l.o.e.’s founder, fighting euthanasia is a matter of respect — not just at the beginning of life, but at the end of life. It’s also a matter of faith.

“As people of God, we need to address the questions that arise at the end of life when we or others are critically ill,” Valdivia said. “We are all going to die. We are all going to have to face this issue.”

Should people choose when and where to die? According to pro-euthanasia proponents, the answer is “yes.” But what about the poor and elderly patients in nursing homes? Stories of people being killed “mercifully” by euthanasia are no longer simply rumors. Two nurses in New Orleans were recently accused of euthanizing patients in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Assisted suicide crusader Jack Kevorkian spent eight years behind bars for a similar crime.

As Valdivia points out, many turn to the Internet when faced with a difficult or terminal diagnosis. To date, the pro-life voice on end-of-life issues is not very visible on the World Wide Web. Valdivia is dedicated to changing that.

The pro-life community is out there, “we’re just not organized,” she said. “We need to create a solid wall of resistance against euthanasia and America’s culture of death.”

Valdivia points out that while groups like Rachel’s Vineyard, Crisis Pregnancy Centers and Maggie’s Place have done some wonderful pastoral work in fighting abortion, similar groups have not yet emerged on the issue of euthanasia. One of the goals of a.l.o.e. is to get various anti-euthanasia groups organized and working together. Another goal is to create new pro-life groups altogether.

“In terms of support, euthanasia is not as widely covered as the abortion issue,” Valdivia said. “The truth is, there are people out there who want this… people who want to make suicide ‘safe’ or legal.”

Physician assisted suicide is already legal in the state of Oregon. It’s also legal in England, Belgium and the Netherlands.

The answer, says Valdivia, is education. But faith must also play a part in the equation.

“Prayer is most important as believers,” Valdivia says. “We need to think about death in a hopeful way, not a helpless way.”