A bill that would legalize physician-assisted suicide was reintroduced by California lawmakers on Tuesday after the bill had stalled due to opposition from the Catholic Church, some Democrats, and disability rights activists.
Supporters held a news conference on Tuesday, August 19 to announce the new bill, AB 2X 15, which would allow physicians to prescribe medication that would end the lives of terminally ill patients.
While the bill had already passed the State Senate in June, it was delayed in the Assembly Health Committee. It was reintroduced during a special health care session held by Gov. Jerry Brown to address healthcare funding issues in the state, where it will bypass the committee where it had stalled in June.
"Californians cannot wait any longer," Senate leader Kevin de Leon said at the news conference. "It is time for terminally ill Californians to have the same right to die in peace as is now allowed in other states,"
Sen. Bill Monning (D-Carmel) expressed hopefulness about the passage of the bill this time around.
"We are cautiously optimistic but we don't underestimate the challenge ahead," he told Los Angeles Times.
However, Californians Against Assisted Suicide (CAAS), the leading coalition of various organizations that opposes the bill, criticized the lawmakers for reintroducing the bill during the special session.
"This is a heavy-handed attempt to force through a bill that could not get any traction at all in committee. It's one thing to run roughshod over the normal committee and legislative process to jam through a district bill, but to do that on what is literally a life-and-death issue is clearly abusive, and should concern all Californians," CAAS said in a statement. "It is particularly troubling that in this rush to judgment proponents are linking this bill with health care financing."
The "right-to-die" principle was publicized by Brittany Maynard, a 29-year-old woman with brain cancer, who moved from California to Oregon to legally end her life.
"Californians should have more options available to those suffering constantly other than moving to other states or living in constant pain," said Assemblyman Luis Alejo at the news conference.
According to Reuters, opposition comes from disability rights activists who fear that disabled people will be coerced into ending their lives by insurance companies or relatives.
Republicans express similar opposition as well, saying that elderly parents could be pressured into ending their lives prematurely by greedy heirs, according to Los Angeles Times.
Physician-assisted suicide is currently legal in Oregon, Washington, Montana, and Vermont.
