California lower house approves right-to-die legislation

The California Assembly approved a measure Wednesday that would allow terminally ill patients to legally end their lives. The proposal now goes to the state Senate, which is expected to endorse it.

Lawmakers in the Assembly voted 42-33 after a long and emotional debate, during which many legislators invoked religious beliefs in arguing for and against the legislation.

"I, as a Christian, do not pretend to know what God has in mind for all of us, why there is pain or suffering in this world. But I do know he is a merciful God and we have the ability to allow others to have a choice," said Assemblywoman Catharine Baker, R-Pleasanton, who supported the measure. "I believe it is cruel — nothing short of cruel — to deny them that choice in their final hours and final days."

It was the second effort by lawmakers this year to allow doctors to prescribe life-ending medication after the highly publicized case of 29-year-old Brittany Maynard, a California woman with brain cancer who moved to Oregon to legally take her life.

An earlier measure stalled amid religious opposition and hesitant Democrats. The renewed push comes after at least two dozen states have introduced aid-in-dying legislation this year, though none of the bills have passed.

Doctors are permitted to prescribe life-ending drugs in Oregon, Washington, Montana and Vermont.

The right-to-die movement has been galvanized by the high-profile case of Maynard, who argued in widely viewed online videos that she should have had access to life-ending drugs in her home state.

Religious groups and advocates for people with disabilities opposed a nearly identical California bill introduced earlier this year, saying it goes against the will of God and puts terminally ill patients at risk for coerced death. The measure passed the state Senate but stalled in the Assembly.

Assemblywoman Susan Talamantes Eggman, D-Stockton, introduced the latest bill as part of a special legislative session on health care financing convened by Gov. Jerry Brown.

A Democrat and a lifelong Roman Catholic, he has declined to take a position on right-to-die legislation, although his spokeswoman said earlier this year that he did not believe a special session on health care was the appropriate venue to consider it.

Advocates also have turned to the courts, and the right-to-die advocacy group Compassion and Choices has said it would attempt to qualify for a 2016 ballot measure if proponents lose in the legislature.

The Associated Press