ACLJ Calls on Obama Administration to Rescind the Use of So-Called “Death Book”

VA Publication Devalues the Lives of the Nation’s Heroes

WASHINGTON, Aug. 26, 2009—Today the nation's top conservative public interest law firm called on the Obama Administration to permanently rescind the so-called "Death Book" being promoted by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) - a publication that is viewed by many as devaluing human life and promoting euthanasia. 

"This pamphlet represents a troubling attempt to devalue human life," said Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ).  "The fact is this publication presents disturbing encouragement to our veterans to cut their lives short when facing even the mildest of difficulties, such as what the pamphlet calls an inability to ‘shake the blues.'  This disturbing government-sanctioned, end-of-life advice has no place being promoted by the Obama Administration.  It represents another assault on the sanctity of human life."

The ACLJ has produced a legal memorandum on the VA publication, "Your Life, Your Choices," and calls on the Obama Administration to permanently rescind the use of this publication.  The ACLJ memo is posted here:  http://www.aclj.org/media/pdf/VA_Death_Book-082509.pdf

The VA pamphlet has triggered an outcry from members of Congress as well as Jim Towey, President Bush's former director of faith-based initiatives, who argues that the publication "presents end-of-life choices in a way aimed at steering users toward predetermined conclusions, much like a political ‘push poll.'"

About the ACLJ

Led by Chief Counsel Jay Sekulow, the American Center for Law and Justice focuses on constitutional law and is based in Washington, D.C.  The ACLJ is online at www.ACLJ.org.  The ACLJ's online newsroom-which includes high-resolution, downloadable graphics, principal bios and ACLJ fact sheets-can be accessed at www.DeMossNews.com/ACLJ.

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