The new law would allow people with early to mid-stage dementia to end their life.
The California legislature is considering a law that would greatly expand the state’s assisted suicide policies to allow people to end their lives without being diagnosed with a terminal disease, including dementia patients.
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The Virginia Senate narrowly passed a bill on Friday that would legalize assisted suicide in the commonwealth, with one Republican joining the chamber’s Democrats to pass the legislation in a narrow victory.
SB 280, introduced by Senator Ghazala Hashmi (D-Richmond), would allow any Virginia citizen who is diagnosed with a terminal disease to “request” a doctor to “prescribe a self-administered controlled substance for the purpose of ending the patient’s life,” according to a summary of the bill.
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Two Virginia bishops issued a letter through the Virginia Catholic Conference on Monday urging Catholics to oppose legislation in the Virginia General Assembly that would legalize physician assisted suicide within the commonwealth. The legislation passed a second committee vote on Thursday.
Bishop Michael Burbridge of Arlington and Bishop Barry Knestout of Richmond warned in their letter that bills “to legalize physician assisted suicide” are “moving rapidly” through the General Assembly. The bishops wrote, “We are alarmed and deeply saddened by this development. Human life is sacred and must never be abandoned or discarded.
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Minnesota Democrats plan to use their governing trifecta to bring assisted suicide to the state next year.
Sen. Kelly Morrison, DFL-Deephaven, who carried an assisted suicide bill in the legislature this past session, said in a press release this week that “advocates are now ramping up their push to pass the bill during the 2024 legislative session that convenes in February.”
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A Connecticut bill that would have permitted physicians to assist patients to commit suicide and, its critics say, eliminated penalties for any person who may have pressured another individual to commit suicide using the legislation’s provisions, has died in committee.
The highly controversial legislation failed to pass the Judiciary Committee Wednesday, ending hopes for a floor vote, reported the Hartford Courant.
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Pro-life Connecticut activists gathered Wednesday in Hartford at the Capitol building for the second annual March for Life to celebrate life from conception to natural death and to demonstrate against more abortions that could come if two proposals are approved.
Despite the fact that Connecticut already has extremely liberal abortion laws, House Joint Resolution No. 8, introduced by State Rep. Keith Denning (D-Wilton), is a proposal for a constitutional amendment to protect the right to an abortion. The resolution would enshrine abortion in the state Constitution.
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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.
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Senators on the Connecticut General Assembly’s Judiciary Committee defeated legislation this week that would have permitted terminally ill adults to obtain substances to hasten their deaths.
Typically, members of both chambers vote in Connecticut’s legislative committees. Regarding the assisted-suicide bill, Rep. Craig Fishbein (R-Wallingford) moved to split the committee to take a vote from delegations from each chamber. When the committee’s nine senators voted, one Democrat, Mae Flexer (D-Windham) sided with the panel’s four Republicans, killing the bill, which had previously passed the Public Health Committee.
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A bill to allow assisted suicide via a lethal dose of drugs after approval from two doctors is before Connecticut state lawmakers again, despite its failure in the legislature for years.
Senate Bill 88 would require candidates for assisted suicide to be at least 18 years old and diagnosed with a terminal illness, with a prediction of less than six months to live.
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California doctors who object to assisted suicide are fighting an amended state law that implicates them in their patients’ intentional deaths.
They are suing California officials, including Attorney General Rob Bonta, Department of Public Health Director Tomas Aragon, and Medical Board members to block SB 380, which made it easier for patients to commit suicide under the End of Life Options Act that took effect in 2016.
The original law issued a broad exemption for healthcare providers, granting them a liability shield for “refusing to inform” patients about their right to physician-assisted suicide and “not referring” patients to physicians who will assist in their suicides.
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