Contact: Nancy Stith, Georgia Right to Life, 770-339-6880 

NORCROSS, Ga., May 1, 2012 /Christian Newswire/ -- GRTL President Dan Becker today praised Governor Nathan Deal for signing the state's new assisted suicide law.

"Stopping the immoral and barbaric practice of killing in the name of compassion is the right thing to do," Becker said, "Governor Deal deserves credit for endorsing this measure."

The bill, HB 1114 sponsored by Rep. Ed Setzler (District 35), was passed in response to last February's decision by the Georgia Supreme Court that struck down the state's previous weak and ineffective law.

The law becomes effective immediately.

The old law only prevented advertising assisted suicide services, but did not prohibit the procedure itself.

"Any society that claims to value life cannot justify taking a life lest we risk establishing a public policy with its attendant expectation of a 'duty to die,'" Becker said, "The Hippocratic Oath says, 'I will give no deadly medicine to any one if asked, nor suggest any such counsel ...'"

"We should instead devote our knowledge and resources to helping people in desperate situations."

Georgia Right to Life promotes respect and effective legal protection for all human life from its earliest biological beginning through natural death. GRTL is one of number of organizations that have adopted Personhood as the most effective pro-life strategy for the 21st century.