International Task Force

International Task Force
on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide

California - Attempts to Legalize Assisted Suicide

2007 California Assisted-Suicide Bill (AB 374)

Note: AB 374 failed to gain sufficient support for passage in the Assembly by the 6/8/07 deadline. The bill has been shelved. It may not be brought up again until January 2008.

Background, text & analysis of "2007 Compassionate Choices Act" (AB 374)

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Articles:

"Two People, Two Deadly Diseases, Two Opponents United Against Assisted Suicide." (5/14/07)
AIDS patient Walter Park explains, "I don't want to see the authority of the law tipping the balance of physicians and medical professionals in the wrong direction by giving the medical corporations they work for a further incentive to save money this way."

"What you don't know can kill you," (Capitol Weekly, 4/26/07) Unanswered questions about California's assisted suicide proposal.

"Difficult to define whose suffering is worthy of death," (San Francisco Chronicle, 4/8/07)
California's assisted-suicide measure can't preclude expansion.

"To the north, euthanasia up," (Oakland Tribune, 3/9/07)
Based on Oregon's official reports, about 525 Californians would kill themselves each year if AB 374 passes, and that number could increase to about 735 each year if California follows Oregon's lead.

Bill would force Catholic nursing homes to permit assisted suicide
(First Things, 3/2/07)

"Assisted suicide bill puts pressure on patients to die sooner," (San Jose Mercury News, 3/1/07)

"Assisted suicide backers gain a big ally," (San Francisco Chronicle, 2/15/07)

"Lawmakers to reintroduce bill on doctor assisted suicide" (San Francisco Chronicle, 2/12/07)

"The language of death." (LA Times, 2/12/07)

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2005-2006 California Assisted-Suicide Bill

On June 27, 2006, California's latest assisted-suicide proposal (AB 651, the "Compassionate Choices Act") failed -- marking the fifth time since 1988 that assisted-suicide advocates have failed in their attempts to transform the crime of assisted suicide into a medical treatment in California. Previous failed attempts took place in 1988, 1992, 1995 and 1999.

Assemblywoman Patty Berg and Assemblyman Lloyd Levine were the co-sponsors of the "Compassionate Choices Act." It was originally AB 654 but, using a procedure known as "gut and amend," it was renumbered AB 651). The bill was modeled on Oregon's assisted-suicide law.

Analysis and text of "California Compassionate Choices Act" (6/16/06)

"Assisted suicide a threat to health-care system" (Capitol Weekly, 5/25/06)
According to Laura Remson Mitchell, "legalized assisted suicide would reinforce the worst financial incentives in our health-care system."

LULAC National Board Votes to Oppose California Doctor Assisted Suicide (4/6/06)
"Once again, the Latino community doesn't want Assisted Suicide. The Disability community does not want Assisted Suicide. The poor and uninsured do not want Assisted Suicide."
LULAC is the largest and oldest Latino civil rights organization in the United States.

California Latinos overwhelmingly oppose assisted suicide (3/7/06)
According to Angel Luevano, State Director for LULAC, "This poll confirms what LULAC has said all along--our community does not want doctor-assisted suicide."

"Invasion of the Bill Snatchers: Health-care-for-the-poor measure transformed into assisted-suicide bill." After a "gut and amend" procedure, AB 654 now numbered AB 651. (6/13/05)

LULAC, the nation's oldest and largest Latino civil rights organization, has expressed outrage at assisted-suicide advocates. "Doctor-assisted suicide is incompatible with basic human rights and Latino values...LULAC will not stand on the sidelines while assisted suicide advocates misrepresent the opinions and moral views of the Latino community for their own political goals." (LULAC Press Release, 5/11/05)

"Life-or-Death Decisions: Cutting corners at the end of life?" (San Francisco Chronicle, 4/11/05)

"Death trumps choice," (San Francisco Chronicle, 1/6/05). "What if you knew that legalizing assisted suicide meant that sick and disabled people, who don't ask to die, nonetheless would be killed?"

"Death with vanity," (San Francisco Chronicle, 1/4/05). "There is a true rot in a state that regards those who want to kill the sick as more compassionate than those who want to treat the sick."

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International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide
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