The following comes from a Jan. 20 email sent by the pro-euthanasia Compassion & Choices.

Things are moving fast here in California!

Tomorrow (Wednesday) in Sacramento, Senators Bill Monning and Lois Wolk will introduce the End-of-Life Options Act, a bill to authorize aid in dying for terminally ill Californians.

They’ll be joined at a news conference by representatives of Compassion & Choices; the family of Brittany Maynard, including her mother, Deborah Ziegler; and other Californians who, touched by terminal illness, have dedicated themselves to making end-of-life options available in the Golden State.

We know that a majority of Californians support aid in dying. Now it’s time for our lawmakers to catch up to neighboring Oregon and Washington as well as Montana, Vermont and New Mexico — all states where the medical practice of aid in dying is authorized.

 

The following comes from a Jan. 19 editorial in the L.A. Times. Note: the Times says the bill will be introduced Tues., though Compassion & Choices says Wed.

Although 70% of Californians support physician-assisted suicide, it remains illegal in this state. Despite a remarkably successful 20-year-old law in Oregon that set up a process for what that state calls “death with dignity,” the Legislature in California has not introduced a bill on the subject since 2007. Before that, lawmakers tried for three years in a row with virtually identical bills and all failed….

The new bill, to be introduced Tuesday by state Sens. Bill Monning (D-Carmel) and Lois Wolk (D-Davis), closely follows the Oregon law. It would allow a person with a terminal disease and a prognosis of death within six months to obtain a physician’s prescription for a lethal dose of medication.…

The Roman Catholic Church and other groups will almost certainly have strong objections to such a law, but their moral codes should not be imposed on those with different beliefs.

There are details in the bill that may need to be amended, but overall this is an important piece of legislation that should become law. Californians should have the ability to determine their personal medical destinies.