Dear Editor:

Maine has become a sanctuary for undocumented 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 and illegal immigration here in Maine.

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 supports 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 other family members, doctors or caregivers 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, grace, 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. It is a gift of life, not death. And it is free.

Here in Maine more people are dying than are being born – this is a fact. People are leaving Maine due to high taxes, lack of good paying jobs and an unsustainable high cost of living for basics needs. Young people are not building families. They are sometimes taking their own lives out of some desperate situation. And now we have a law that takes away the very breath of the aged or infirmed. And it is not free.

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

It seems it is on the road to becoming a national morgue.

Elizabeth Printy

Damariscotta