A Hard Fought Victory in 2016; Tougher Battles to Come in 2017
During 2016, our supporters across the state did amazing work to ensure that legislation seeking to legalize physician-assisted suicide was not passed by the General Assembly. After the session was over, we continued our work spreading the messages about why legalizing “death with dignity” in Maryland would be such a big mistake. Examples from Maryland and across the country showed the serious flaws in PAS proposals and troubling ways that PAS is implemented in states where it is legal.
As we prepare for an even tougher fight in 2017, we wanted to look back at some of our best blog posts – those which contain critical arguments we want everyone to be aware of and continue to share next year.
Happy New Year to our supporters. We look forward to working together again in 2017 to defeat this dangerous legislation.
Physician Assisted Suicide Legislation Stopped in Maryland, For Now
(April 12, 2016)
We have some great news to share with you. At midnight on Monday, April 11th the Maryland General Assembly’s 2016 legislative session ended with no action taken on the proposed physician-assisted suicide legislation – HB 404/SB 418.
Caring for dying husband was “best seven months of my life.”
(September 14, 2016)
A moving and thoughtful piece recently ran in the Washington Post in which the author describes the final months with her husband who had terminal cancer. It’s an important story that honestly explores what it’s like when a loved one is going through the last stages of life.
Is Compassion & Choices Actively Misleading Legislators about PAS?
(November 2, 2016)
“It’s almost never about pain”
This quote in a recent Washington Post article about the debate over physician-assisted suicide instantly dispels one of the main arguments from proponents about why physician-assisted suicide should be legalized. What’s more, the quote is from a doctor who prescribes lethal prescriptions under California’s PAS law.
This Truly is Assisted Suicide
(December 7, 2016)
With the Iowa State Legislature likely to debate legislation in 2017 that would legalize physician-assisted suicide, the state’s largest newspaper, the Des Moines Register, thoroughly examined how the practice of PAS plays out in states where it is legal. What they found is not surprising: the implementation of PAS is nothing like Compassion & Choices claims. There are serious abuses of so-called “safeguards” in the law, and a lack of real record keeping. Together, these examples are more proof that Compassion & Choices is misleading state legislators about the true impact of these bills.