Maine has become a sanctuary for immigrants at the invitation of legislators and city officials who are accepting these people at the taxpayers’ expense and, in certain cases, to the exclusion of actual citizens who need basic services and help with housing and food. Our governor has encouraged the intake of asylum seekers.

Maine has become a sanctuary for women who decide they do not want to take responsibility for the baby they carry – a baby who is not safe in its own “inner sanctuary.” Our governor has signed this law.

Maine has become a sanctuary for the gravely ill and elderly who, on their own decide that they do not want to live any longer. In certain cases, the decision of death may involve family or doctors who ultimately decide that the invalid’s fate is best altered or even expunged. Our governor has signed this new right-to-die law.

Whenever I go into a sanctuary, it is never to break any laws. I receive peace, hope – even salvation. In the sanctuary of nature I can see wonders, smell the freshness, feel the force of the outdoors and hear its response. It is a reflection of nature’s agenda – a gift of life.

Here in Maine, more people are dying than are being born. People are leaving Maine because of high taxes, a lack of good-paying jobs and an unsustainably high cost of living for basic needs. Young people are not building families. They are sometimes taking their own lives out of desperate situations. And now we have a law that takes away the very breath of the aged or infirm.

What is happening to Maine? What kind of sanctuary is it, really?

It seems it is becoming a national morgue.

Elizabeth Printy

Damariscotta