by Evan Stambaugh
Democrats in the Minnesota Legislature are sponsoring a bill to allow terminally ill adults to end their lives by assisted suicide.
On Thursday both HF 1930 and its companion SF 1813 were introduced in the Minnesota House of Representatives and Senate, respectively. If passed, the legislation would permit adults with a terminal illness (6 months or fewer left to live) to request “medical aid in dying” medication.
Minnesota is one of seven U.S. states currently considering assisted suicide legislation. Canada’s medical assistance in dying (MAID) law, amended in 2021 to include chronically ill adults, has also come under fire over government efforts to make the mentally ill eligible as well.
Pro-life activists based in Minnesota are condemning the proposed bill.
Tim Miller, executive director of Pro-Life Action Ministries, told Alpha News it represents a “cloaked effort to move Minnesota toward euthanasia of the elderly and sick.”
“Like their abortion law, this is further evidence that all lives are not valued by the majority party,” he said. “Simply put, they believe some humans have more worth than others and those least worthy should be exterminated.”
In a Friday statement, Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life (MCCL) called the proposed bill “dangerous, misguided, and extreme.”
“This legislation has gone nowhere in past years, and for good reasons. Assisted suicide is a danger to all of us,” said MCCL co-executive director Cathy Blaeser. “The truth is that legalizing assisted suicide would pose real risks to Minnesotans.”
“People who are at risk of suicide deserve our protection,” she added. “Those facing an adverse prognosis or the challenges of disability deserve our concern and protection no less than physically healthy and able-bodied people.”
After sweeping the 2022 midterm elections, Democrats now control both the Minnesota House and Senate, and lawmakers have seized on the opportunity to try to push through several major pieces of legislation.
For instance, Minnesota passed what is considered the “most extreme” abortion bill in the nation last month. Signed by Gov. Tim Walz, the bill guarantees the “fundamental right” to abortion through all nine months of pregnancy.
Democrats have also passed a bill to make Minnesota 100% carbon-free by 2040 and proposed legalizing recreational marijuana for adults 21 and up.
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Evan Stambaugh is a freelance writer who had previously been a sports blogger. He has a BA in theology and an MA in philosophy.
Photo “Doctor and Patient” by Antoni Shkraba.
