Of all the times to do it, they decided to move smack dab in the middle of Suicide Prevention Week. In a 43-34 vote Wednesday, the California Assembly approved a measure legalizing physician-assisted suicide. The measure will be sent back to the state senate, where it will probably pass and arrive on the governor’s desk. In advancing this legislation, California is embracing a culture of death like its northern neighbor, Oregon. Last year, National Review’s Wesley Smith reported that the state’s health department said it would never put a cap on the number of assisted suicides it would perform. “I think it might also reflect the view I am detecting among the technocratic class that assisted suicide/euthanasia eventually become not just an option, but the preferred ‘choice,’” Smith wrote. There still may be a chance to stop suicide from being the law of the land in California, however, as Reuters reports that Governor Jerry Brown studied at a Jesuit seminary before taking up politics. Perhaps the Catholic Church’s teaching on the sanctity of life will compel him to pick up the veto pen, but we doubt it.

> Update: The state senate likewise passed the measure Friday.