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Euthanasia & Assisted-Suicide Measures in the United States (1988-2005)
Kathi Hamlon
States with Voter Ballot Initiatives
Washington State
1990
Washington State Initiative (119) was filed, the first state
voter referendum on the issue of euthanasia and physician-assisted
suicide.
California
1988
A Hemlock Society spin-off group, Americans against Human
Suffering, launched a campaign to legalize "aid-in-dying" (a
euphemism for euthanasia). The campaign failed to garner enough voter
signatures to qualify it for November’s ballot initiative vote.
1992
Americans for Death with Dignity, formerly Americans against
Human Suffering, gathered enough signatures to place the "California
Death with Dignity Act" (CA- DWDA) on the state ballot as Proposition
161. In November, California voters defeated Proposition 161, a measure to
legalized euthanasia. The vote was 46% for and 54% against the measure.
1995
An Oregon-style physician-assisted suicide bill (CA-DWDA)
was introduced into the California Legislature. Defeated due to lack of
support.
1999
Another CA-DWDA—assisted-suicide bill AB 1592 —was
introduced in the California Legislature. While the measure passed two
committees in the Assembly (Lower House), it was pulled by the author due
to the lack of support in the full Assembly. Author turned the measure
into a 2-year bill, but continued lack of support killed the measure in
January 2000.
2005
Yet another Oregon-type assisted-suicide bill (AB 654)—this
time called the "California Compassionate Choices Act"—was
introduced in the legislature. This bill, like the 1999 version, passed
out of two committees, but, due to a lack of support in the full Assembly,
the authors pulled the measure. Hoping for a better outcome in the Senate,
the authors—Assembly members Patty Berg and Lloyd Levine—engaged in a
"back room maneuver," called "gut & amend," and
managed to get AB 654 into the Senate as AB 651. But the Senate members
were not as supportive as the authors hoped. Before any vote could be
taken, the authors changed both AB 654 (still in the Assembly) and AB 651
(still in the Senate) into 2-year bills. That means that the authors have
until January 31, 2006, to get both houses to approve one of the
two identical bills, a prospect which is highly unlikely.
1990
Oregon’s chapter of the Hemlock Society introduced the "Death with Dignity Act" in the Oregon legislature, but it failed to get it out of committee.
1994
In November 1994, by a 51%-49% vote, Oregon voters approve
the "Oregon Death with Dignity Act," also known as ballot
initiative Measure 16. The measure made it legal for Oregon doctors to
prescribe lethal drug overdoses to terminally-ill patients who ask to die.
Doctors were granted full immunity from prosecution if they followed
Measure 16’s provisions. Oregon became the first and only state
in the U.S. to pass such a measure. Because of a court challenges, the
Oregon Death with Dignity Act (O-DWDA) did not take effect until October
1997.
1997
Due to serious flaws in the O-DWDA, the Oregon Legislature
passed a bill to return Measure 16 to the voters for possible repeal in
the November 4, 1997, election. The new initiative to repeal the O-DWDA
was called Measure 51. Oregon voters rejected Measure 51 (the repeal) by a
margin of 60%-40%.
On October 27, 1997, the O-DWDA—as passed in 1994—took effect.
1998
Maine
2000Assisted-suicide advocates in Maine qualified a ballot initiative—to legalize the induced-death practice—for the November state election. The measure was virtually identical to the assisted-suicide law which passed in Oregon in 1994. The Maine Death with Dignity Act, was placed on the ballot as Question 1: "Should a terminally ill adult who is of sound mind be allowed to ask for and receive a doctor’s help to die?"
On November 7, 2000, Maine voters joined ranks with those in Washington State, California, and Michigan by defeating the ballot measure. The vote was 51% no, 49% yes.
Other states with multiple legislative attempts (bills) to legalize physician-assisted suicide
2002
For three years, assisted-suicide advocates
targeted the Hawaii Legislature in the hope of making Hawaii the second
state after Oregon to legalize physician- assisted suicide. The 2002 version of the Hawaii Death with Dignity Act (HI-DWDA)—modeled
after Oregon’s law—passed the House but was defeated in the Senate by
a vote of 14-11.
2003
In 2003, the HI-DWDA died in committee.
2004
In 2004, the House
Judiciary Committee voted 10-5 for the measure, but when the bill went to
the House floor, the Democratic leadership withdrew it without taking a
vote. They said there were not enough votes to pass it.
2005
In 2005, proponents introduced another HI-DWDA (HB 1454).
This time—after more than nine hours of pro and con testimony—the bill
did not even survive its first hearing before the House Health Committee.
2003
2004
In January 2004, Lopez introduced a new bill,
drafted by assisted suicide supporters under the working title,
2005 In January 2005, Lopez introduced two bills. Both would permit assisted suicide. One, called an "Aid-in-Dying" bill (HB 2313), like Lopez's 2003 bill, is virtually identical to Oregon's assisted-suicide law. The second (HB 2311), is a reintroduction of the failed 2004 measure based on the Patient Comfort and Control Act. Neither bill passed.
Vermont
2003
Assisted-suicide advocates introduced the Vermont Death with Dignity Act— another clone of the Oregon law. The chairpersons of both the House and Senate Health & Welfare committees refused to hear the measure.2005 The bill was reintroduced in February 2005. On April 12-14, the House Human Services Committee heard 3 hours of public testimony and almost 12 hours of expert testimony for and against the measure. The committee decided not to vote on the bill. House Speaker Gaye Symington (D) indicated that she does not plan to hold a House floor debate on the assisted-suicide measure in either 2005 or 2006.
2005
Rep. Frank Boyle (D-Superior) and Sen. Fred Risser (D-Madison) introduced their latest "Death with Dignity" bill in the Wisconsin Legislature. They have introduced similar bills for the past 12 years, but, each time, the bills have languished in committee, never progressing to a vote by either legislative chamber. Their 2005 bill is also expected to die. Kathi Hamlon is a policy analyst for the International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide and the editor of the International Task Force Update.