"I would prefer to die holding true to my principles than to sacrifice them and live," Merwen says, with a bit of a shrug. "I could never share pain with a thinking being, not knowingly. It is sharing, after all. What I inflict on others I inflict upon myself. If I am willing to hasten the death of someone who hastens death, then how can I say I am any better than she is?"

There's a sadness to her voice. This isn't theoretical for her. This is all too real, something tested and lived.