When Not Dead Yet activists joined me in attending Jack “Dr. Death” Kevorkian’s trial in the late 1990s, Hemlock’s executive director Faye Girsh was there supporting him. Two thirds of his body count consisted of people with non-terminal disabilities. Girsh also advocated eligibility for people with cognitive disabilities and dementia, with or without consent. Leaders also advocated active euthanasia and “mercy killing.”
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Thursday, March 21, 2024
A Short History of Assisted Suicide; Is Canadian Style Assisted Suicide/Euthanasia Coming to California?
Wednesday, March 13, 2024
West Virginia to Vote on Landmark Constitutional Amendment Outlawing Medically Assisted Suicide in November 2024 Election
WV News Report
West Virginia citizens will soon have a say on a constitutional change.
This change aims to ban "medically assisted suicide, euthanasia, or mercy killing." This is the first time a US state has considered a constitutional ban on this medical practice. It is often called assisted suicide or aid-in-dying. Amendment 1 is related to this ban. Citizens will vote on it on November 5, 2024.
Monday, March 11, 2024
My Personal Experience With Assisted Suicide
By Margaret Dore
In another life, I talked three young men down from suicide.
What I think happened is that a final exit network type person had given them my phone number by mistake. This was before the age of caller ID.
I was contacted by each of the three young men over a period of time, each one wanting assistance to kill himself.
Wednesday, March 6, 2024
Indiana Resolution Opposing Assisted Suicide Passes in Committee
Alex Schadenberg,
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition
Indiana Resolution 17 titled: A Concurrent Resolution opposing and condemning assisted suicide passed on Wednesday February 29 [2024] passed on the Indiana Senate Committee on Health and Provider Services by a vote of 9 to 2. The following is the wording of the resolution:
Whereas, The State of Indiana has an unqualified interest in the preservation of human life and the State's prohibition on assisting suicide in IC 35-42-1-2.5 both reflects and advances its commitment to the State's interest;
Tuesday, March 5, 2024
Virginia Assisted Suicide Bill Will Carry Over to 2025, Other Bills Dead
In the meantime, the following bills are now declared dead for 2024 and will NOT carry over to the new year.
Monday, March 4, 2024
24 Years Ago, Jeanette Hall Had Terminal Cancer And Wanted Assisted Suicide
By Alex Schadenberg , material contributed by Margaret Dore
I was speaking this weekend in Oregon and Dr Kenneth Stevens gave us an incredible gift by bring Jeanette Hall to the event.
(Picture: Alex Schadenberg, Jeanette Hall, Kenneth Stevens, Wesley Smith)
Oregon's assisted suicide law came into effect in 1998. In 2000, Jeanette Hall had cancer and she was give six to 12 months to live. Jeanette made a settled decision to use Oregon's assisted suicide law in lieu of being treated for cancer. Her doctor, Kenneth Stevens, who opposed assisted suicide, thought that her chances with treatment were good. Over several weeks, he stalled her request for assisted suicide and finally convinced her to be treated for cancer.
Thursday, February 15, 2024
Nine States Have Strengthened Their Laws Against Assisted Suicide
Alabama Governor Kay Ivey |
In the last thirteen years, at least nine states have strengthened their laws against assisted suicide and/or euthanasia. They are:
1. Alabama: In 2017, Alabama enacted the Assisted Suicide Ban Act;
2. Arizona: In 2014, Arizona strengthened its law against assisted suicide.
3. Georgia: In 2012, Georgia strengthened its law against assisted suicide.
4. Idaho: On April 5, 2011, Idaho strengthened its law against assisted suicide.
5. Indiana: On January 29, 2024, the Indiana House and Senate supported a joint resolution opposing and condemning assisted medical suicide.
Wednesday, February 14, 2024
Indiana House Resolution Opposing Assisted Suicide; Senate Concurring
To view the entire document, click here.
Be it resolved by the House of Representatives of the General Assembly of the State of Indiana, the Senate concurring:SECTION 1. That the Indiana General Assembly strongly opposes and condemns assisted medical suicide because the Indiana General Assembly has an unqualified interest in the preservation of human life.
SECTION 2. That the Indiana General Assembly strongly opposes and condemns assisted medical suicide because anything less than a prohibition leads to foreseeable abuses and eventually to euthanasia by devaluing human life, particularly the lives of the terminally ill, elderly, disabled, and depressed whose lives are of no less value or quality than any other citizen of this state.
Thursday, December 28, 2023
Anita Cameron: "My Mum Didn't Die"*
Assisted suicide laws are dangerous because though these laws are supposed to be for people with six months or less to live, doctors are often wrong about a terminal diagnosis. In 2009, while living in Washington state, my mother was determined to be at the end stage of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. I was told her death was imminent, that if I wanted to see her alive, I should get there in two days. She rallied, but was still quite ill, so she was placed in hospice. Her doctor said that her body had begun the process of dying.
Though she survived 6 months of hospice, her doctor convinced her that her body was still in the process of dying, and she moved home to Colorado to die.
My mum didn’t die. In fact, six weeks after returning to Colorado, she and I were arrested together in Washington, DC, fighting for disability justice. She became active in her community and lived almost 12 years!
Friday, February 18, 2022
EPC - USA Files Brief to Massachusetts Supreme Court in the Kligler Assisted Suicide Case
Alex Schadenberg, Executive Directive, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition
In January 2020 the assisted suicide lobby appealed a Massachusetts Superior court decision which found that there was no right to assisted suicide in Massachusetts.
Recently the Massachusetts Supreme Court agreed to hear the case and yesterday, EPC-USA submitted a brief in the Massachusetts Supreme Court in this case.
The case known as Kligler concerns Dr Roger Kligler, who is living with prostate cancer and seeking death by assisted suicide and Dr Alan Schoenberg, who is willing to prescribe lethal drugs for Kligler to die by assisted suicide. Kligler who claimed to be terminally ill when launching the case in 2016 remains alive today.
Kligler and Schoenberg are arguing that doctors cannot be prosecuted for prescribing lethal drugs for assisted suicide to a competent terminally ill person under the Massachusetts state constitution.
Sunday, February 13, 2022
Dore Press Release: "Delaware Bill Seeks to Legalize Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia"
“Aid in Dying has been a euphemism for physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia since at least 1992," said Dore. “Per the American Medical Association, ‘physician-assisted suicide’ occurs when a doctor facilitates a patient’s death by providing the means or information to enable a patient to perform the life-ending act. ‘Euthanasia’ is the administration of a lethal agent by another person.”
Saturday, February 12, 2022
Legal Memorandum: Delaware Euthanasia Bill Must Be Rejected
I. INTRODUCTION
Aid in dying has been a euphemism for physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia since at least 1992.[1] The proposed Act is based on similar acts in Oregon and Washington State. Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act went into effect in 1997. Washington’s nearly identical act went into effect in 2009.
All three acts apply to persons with a six month or less life expectancy. Such persons may in fact have years or decades to live. A well known example is Jeanette Hall. In 2000, she made a settled decision to use Oregon’s act. Her doctor convinced her to be treated for cancer instead, such that she is alive today, twenty-two years later.
Monday, April 12, 2021
Washington State Expansion Bill Dead
By Barbara Lyons (pictured here)
The Washington State expansion of assisted suicide bill, HB 1141, is dead. It passed in the House by a 60-37 vote and cleared several Senate committees.Thanks to the dedicated, persistent work of a diverse coalition of people in the disability rights, medical, right-to-life and faith communities, the Senate adjourned last night without taking up the bill. It is dead for this session.
Jersey Debates Euthanasia
The law on assisted dying [euthanasia] in Jersey is being reviewed by a Citizen's Jury, and it is expected to start a conversation which could lead to a debate on the law in Jersey's States Assembly.
The panel is made up of 23 members who will hear evidence on both sides of the assisted dying debate before reaching a conclusion by the end of May 2021.
Friday, February 26, 2021
Hearing Today: Tell the Connecticut Public Health Committee to Reject Assisted Suicide & Euthanasia
Dore with Elaine Kolb |
"Don't render yourselves, and the people you care about, sitting ducks to heirs and other predators."
By Margaret Dore, Esq.
To read Dore's analysis opposing Raised Bill No. 6425, with supporting documentation, click here and here.
1. The Bill
Saturday, February 20, 2021
Portugal's Euthanasia Law Goes For Constitutional Review
Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said in a statement the legislation appears “excessively imprecise,” potentially creating a situation of “legal uncertainty.”
Thursday, January 7, 2021
Montana: New Bill to Overturn Assisted Suicide
By Margaret Dore, Esq., MBA
The purpose will be to clarify once and for all that physician-assisted suicide is not legal in Montana.
To learn more, view our Montana page at this link.
Tuesday, September 22, 2020
New Zealand End of Life Choice Act Will Allow Non-Voluntary Death
By Margaret Dore, Esq., MBA* Justice Mallon
On June 16, 2020, Justice Jillian Mallon issued a judgment describing the End of Life Choice Act as limited to voluntary euthanasia and/or physician-assisted suicide. (Judgment, page 1).
The Act, however, also allows non-voluntary death. One reason is that assisted dying (euthanasia and assisted suicide) is described as being performed by a "medical practitioner."
In practice, medical practitioners are allowed to provide medical treatment on a non-voluntary basis. For a common example, consider automobile accidents. Medical practitioners are allowed to treat accident victims on a non-voluntary basis if circumstances are determined to warrant such action. If the patient is unconscious and unable to give consent, medical treatment determined necessary by medical practitioners is nonetheless allowed to go forward.
Saturday, August 8, 2020
Who We Are, What We Do, How We Do It
Choice is an Illusion, is a non-profit human rights organization opposed to assisted suicide, physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia. Our mission is to defeat the spread of these practices, including more recent incidents of "slow" euthanasia, for example:
The purposeful placement of actively ill COVID patients with nursing home residents; the reduction of options for individuals, including children, to stay healthy, by blocking their access to exercise, social interaction and healthcare; and the destruction of the economy, putting further pressure on individuals and families.What we do
We fight to stop the spread of assisted suicide and euthanasia, and to defeat it.
How we do it
We provide legal/policy analyses and testimony to legislatures, courts and the public regarding real life problems with assisted suicide and euthanasia. We do this through our websites, our publications and our direct advocacy. We collaborate with other groups and individuals.
Wednesday, June 24, 2020
Graham Morant Red Flag to Oppose Assisted Suicide Legalization
To view pdf, click here.
In a unanimous decision by three judges of the Queensland Court of Appeal handed down in Brisbane on 19 June 2020 in the case of R v Morant [2020] QCA 135, Graham Morant’s appeal against his conviction for aiding the suicide of his wife was rejected on all four grounds of appeal and the sentence of 10 years imprisonment was upheld as fair.
Morant was convicted on two counts under s311 of the Queensland Criminal Code. The first was that he had counselled Ms Morant to kill herself and thereby induced her to do so. The second was that he had aided her in killing herself.