Rep. Gilchrest should look at all the facts

Rep. Jillian Gilchrest and I agree on just about everything politically. We are friends on Peloton. We are both adamantly pro-choice and are devastated by the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade. However, there is one issue on which we disagree. I do not support physician assisted suicide, and Rep. Gilchrest does. I can live with that difference, and understand that reasonable people can differ. However, in her op-ed piece, Rep. Gilchrest calls into question my credentials as a pro-choice individual .

I cannot let that go by without responding.

I am a member of a group of individuals known as Progressives Against Medical Assisted Suicide, otherwise known as PAMAS. We line up squarely with most positions espoused by progressives with one major exception. As a previous supporter of PAS, my position changed when I represented individuals in my previous capacity as the managing attorney with the former Office of Protection and Advocacy for People with Disabilities who would have been killed because of their disabilities because medical providers did not value their lives. I ask Rep. Gilchrest to read my testimony before the Public Health Committee to get a full understanding of how I came to have second thoughts.

One of the main differences between abortion and PAS is that abortion is health care. PAS is the antithesis of health care. It is a false equation to link the two issues. The evidence shows that individuals with disabilities, those with low income and poor health insurance can be coerced into accepting the cheaper alternative of PAS rather than state-of-the-art palliative care — hardly a choice. Indeed, with all due respect, those who try to equate the two issues, do so without reviewing the studies that show how there is a rush to end palliative care in states where PAS is legal. In fact, the studies show that most people who chose PAS do not do so because of intractable pain, but rather because they fear becoming a burden to their families.

I am proud of my pro-choice credentials, and proud of my position on PAS. I ask Rep. Gilchrest to look at all the facts before questioning the consistency of my position.

Nancy B. Alisberg, West Hartford The writer is a retired attorney.