ALBANY, N.Y. - As New York lawmakers began to consider a bill to legalize physician-assisted suicide, the New York State Catholic Conference launched a new website "to offer Catholics moral clarity and guidance on the church's teachings regarding end-of-life decision-making."

And so it begins. The Supreme Court of Canada decision to legalize assisted suicide (and by extension euthanasia) is chilling but no surprise. Poll after poll has shown Canadian public sympathy moving steadily in favour of some form of state-sanctioned killing.  

OTTAWA - A Supreme Court of Canada ruling that legalizes assisted suicide “is simply wrong” and indicates a society that “has lost its moral compass,” said Toronto Cardinal Thomas Collins.

SAN FRANCISCO - California legislators have introduced assisted suicide legislation modeled on Oregon's assisted suicide law, energized by the heartbreaking story of Brittany Maynard, a young woman with brain cancer, who moved from the San Francisco Bay Area to Oregon to end her own life Nov. 1.

Doctors may be men and women of action, but before a patient dies they should be open and available for lots of talk, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario is advising its members.

OTTAWA - Two senators introduced a euthanasia and assisted suicide bill was introduced in the Senate Dec. 2 which may ensure debate on this controversial matter reaches the House of Commons before next year’s federal election.

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis has warned doctors and ethicists on several hot-button social issues, attacking abortion, embryonic stem cell research and euthanasia as “playing with life” and “a sin against God.”

TORONTO - Watching the world slide down a slippery slope to euthanasia and assisted suicide, or “medical aid in dying,” is disheartening to a Second World War veteran who confronted state-sanctioned killing while helping to liberate Europe. 

HAMILTON, ONT. - A palliative care nurse offered moving accounts of how a person’s last days of life can be some of his or her most fulfilling, enlightening and spiritually rewarding when she spoke at Hamilton Right to Life’s Annual Respect Life Fundraiser Dinner Nov. 3. 

VATICAN CITY - The Vatican’s top ethicist condemned Brittany Maynard’s decision to end her life, saying there was no dignity in her physician-assisted death.

PORTLAND, Ore. - Brittany Maynard, a young California woman who was suffering from terminal brain cancer and gained national attention for her plan to use Oregon's assisted suicide law, ended her life Nov. 1. She was 29 years old.

OTTAWA - The Catholic Women’s League, Canada’s largest women’s organization, has issued a statement that affirms its opposition to euthanasia and assisted suicide and urges Ottawa to create of a national palliative care strategy. 

OTTAWA - The lawyer arguing the Attorney General of Canada's case against legalization of assisted suicide said the court has already spoken on the matter and its previous decision "is still good law."

GATINEAU, QUE. - As the Supreme Court of Canada prepares to hear arguments Oct. 15 on assisted suicide, activists against euthanasia warn of the zeal of their opponents. 

BEAUPRÉ, QUE. - Canada's bishops will launch a national campaign this fall to combat a push in Canada to legalize euthanasia.