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Compassion & Choices Arizona |
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| John Abraham, Executive Director Compassion & Choices Arizona 2321 Cyclorama Drive Prescott, AZ 86305 (928) 776-8586 john@choicesarizona.org |
John L. Abraham, M.Div., FT Thanatology, is a professional speaker, trainer, and consultant with more than 25 years of experience as a counselor, therapist, patient-care advocate, and health care administrator. He has worked in hospitals, hospices, religious institutions, and social service agencies. He is the author of several chapters of death-related books and numerous such articles. He has also published in such journals as Thanatos, Omega, and several nation-wide newsletters.John’s experience in many different disciplines of both the public and private sectors gives him a truly holistic perspective that takes into consideration our physical, psychological, and spiritual dimensions. He is a dynamic instructor who has presented workshops for institutions in ten states.
Perhaps most important for us to know today is his utter commitment to and enthusiasm about championing the last “human right.” We must have the right to determine ourselves how, when, where, and with whom to end our lives.
Why I support Compassion & Choices Arizona
The reason I got involved with Compassion & Choices is really quite simple. I was brought up believing in "liberty and justice for all." As far as I was concerned, "all" included human beings who were dying. When the organization was first formed in 1980, I joined as a "lifetime member" because I knew full well that I would have that same commitment to "liberty and justice" for my lifetime.
By 1980 I had been working as an Episcopal priest for seven years, had founded two hospices, and had taught Death Education at Auburn University for three years. As a priest, I'd had the privilege to enter the intimacy of people's lives - and deaths. Already I had seen too many people die in ways against their wishes, in needless pain and suffering, with great distress to themselves and to all who loved them. Something had to change, and Compassion & Choices Arizona was and is the force for that change.
Over the years, several parishioners have said things like "If you're a priest, how can you favor people 'playing God' by hastening death?" I continue to reply with "How can people dare to intervene in others' lives, and deaths, thereby abrogating the freedom God has given to each individual?" It is not up to us to act upon others as they die. God gave us all the freedom to think, to make informed decisions. Why should that freedom be diminished in the face of death any more than throughout life?
In conclusion, I joined Compassin & Choices Arizona simply because it was the right thing to do. Over the years I've enjoyed the challenges of championing the dying, and I now enjoy the challenges presented by serving as Executive Director of Compassion & Choices Arizona!
John Abraham 2/06/04
John's speech on "We're Not About Death Any More"
From the minutes of the Arizona State Legislature House Committee on Health, February 27, 2003:
John Abraham, an Episcopal Priest, representing Arizonans for Death with Dignity [now Compassion & Choices Arizona], said he has been a priest for thirty years and can recount numerous stories of people he has seen suffer needlessly. He emphasized that these are human beings who find themselves at the end of life helpless, degraded, drugged, and robbed of dignity and freedom, and sometimes in horrific pain. He observed that he has worked with hospice for many years, and believes this discussion goes beyond hospice to an individual’s right to end their life when it is not a life at all. He said it is his belief that we are playing God when we try to abrogate the freedom God has given us.
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John proudly shows off the sign on his car.
Below is his license plate. |
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The Reverend John L. Abraham, M DIV, CT Education:
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