ASSISTED SUICIDE/EUTHANASIA activists are sure a restless bunch. They never seem able to settle on the right terminology to convince people to support legalizing mercy killing. First, it was euthanasia, a perfectly fine word that had a meaning generally akin to today's concept of hospice before being hijacked by the right-to-die crowd in the early 20th century.

When "euthanasia" didn't rouse people to march in the streets demanding a right to be killed if they get cancer, activists began using the terms "deliverance" and, more recently, "physician-assisted suicide" to assure a wary public that they would only be dispatched upon request. But apparently these terms don't poll well, especially any term containing the word "suicide." So, activists dropped "assisted suicide," and replaced it with the currently favored euphemism, "aid in dying."

Similarly--and for the same reasons--the names of mercy-killing advocacy organizations have changed over the years. Thus, what began as the Euthanasia Society of America in the 1930s, morphed in 1976 into the Society for the Right to Die, on its way in 1991 to becoming Choice in Dying (now defunct). The aptly called Hemlock Society meanwhile, decided that being named after a lethal poison was too candid and descriptive. So earlier this year it changed its handle to End of Life Choices, apparently on the theory that people reflexively react to the word "choice" in the way Pavlov's dogs did the ringing bell.

And now, before the ink on End of Life Choices's newly ordered stationary is even dry, it is merging with Compassion in Dying (CID). Compassion in Dying was originally a creature of Hemlock intended to facilitate assisted suicides. But it soon outgrew that role to become a key player in the passage of Oregon's assisted-suicide law, catapulting it to national prominence.

The new blended organization is to be called Compassion and Choice. (Whew--it's getting tough to tell the players without a program!)

Whatever name these ideologues go by, whatever advocacy terms they decide to employ, they remain committed true believers, steadfast in their dedication to transforming homicide into a legal "medical treatment." Not only that, but some are not willing to wait for that (unwished for) event, volunteering to counsel and assist in the suicides of their fellow travelers. Thus, as Hemlock's Winter 2003 newsletter Choices proudly reported, 32 members "died" in 2002 under the tutelage of Caring Friends, a cadre of Hemlock-trained counselors and assisted suicide facilitators. Knowing that members of Hemlock/End of Life Choices/CID/Compassion and Choice--or whatever they are calling themselves today--are fascinated by suicidal methods, Choices told readers that "thirty used the inhalation method" (most likely asphyxiation via helium and a plastic bag, now favored by suicide facilitators) "and two used the ingestion [overdose] method."

NAMES MAY CHANGE but much of the new organization's agenda still looks like that same old Hemlock. Thus, in C and C's joint memorandum of intent--which introduces yet another advocacy slogan, "Dignity--Compassion--Control"--the group promises to push euthanasia legislation, and in the meantime, develop a "go to organization" that will "provide unified direct services" to "clients," which, reading between the lines, would appear to include suicide counseling and facilitation along the lines of Caring Friends. However, following a strategy blazed in recent years by CID with some admittedly beneficial results, the new organization also hopes to boost its respectability by advocating for improved pain control and end-of-life care.