Mormons Join Catholics To Oppose Assisted Suicide

The Roman Catholic Church is getting some help from other faiths in supporting a ballot measure seeking to repeal Oregon’s doctor-assisted suicide law.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is more active in opposing assisted suicide than it was in 1994, when voters passed the law, The Oregonian reported Thursday.

Three years ago, Mormon churches in Oregon did little more than urge the state’s 130,000 Mormons to vote.

In 1994, the Catholic diocese and hospitals in Oregon and elsewhere donated almost half the $1.5 million spent to oppose the assisted suicide measure. Likewise, as of Sept. 24, the Yes on 51 committee had raised $2.25 million, about half of that from the Catholic Church and related organizations.

The Mormon church has donated $50,000 to the Yes on 51 campaign.

Auxiliary Bishop Kenneth Steiner of the Archdiocese of Portland said this time around, Mormon officials told him they “are standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the Catholic Church” and would fight assisted suicide “any place in the country where it raises its head.”

On Sunday, each of Oregon’s more than 250 Mormon congregations will be read a statement from the First Presidency and Quorum of the 12 Apostles, the church’s highest offices, in Salt Lake City.

It will say that “one who assists in the suicide of another violates God’s commandments” and will “commend” members to participate in the Yes on 51 campaign by contacting campaign headquarters, writing letters to the editor and putting signs in their yards.