There is a reason the Catholic Church often speaks of abortion and euthanasia together as life issues.

For a young woman with acute environmental hypersensitivity, applying to government authorities for assistance with dying has proved far easier than dealing with the housing bureaucracy.

Spanish bishops published their own letter on the issue last December, “Sowers of Hope,” in which they reminded Catholics that “there is no one that can’t be cared for even if they are incurable.”

“The church is convinced of the necessity to reaffirm as definitive teaching that euthanasia is a crime against human life because, in this act, one chooses directly to cause the death of another innocent human being."

Euthanasia legislation is headed for the Spanish Senate and, if passed, it would be a defeat for human dignity and would affirm a self-centered view of life that proposes death as a solution to one's problems, the Spanish bishops' conference said.

The acquittal of two “right-to-die” activists on July 27 who aided in the suicide of a person suffering from multiple sclerosis may force the Italian government to legalize assisted suicide in the country.