We are saddened by the result of today’s vote to legalize assisted suicide in Hawaii which unfairly puts vulnerable lives at risk for abuse and coercion. With good reason, twenty-nine states in 2017 and seven so far in 2018 defeated bills that would legalize assisted suicide either by vote or inaction. Last year, a panel of judges in New York’s highest court upheld a law prohibiting the practice in that state. Forty-one states have laws which prohibit assisted suicide, including 10 states that have prohibited assisted suicide in the same time period where only six states voted to legalize. Assisted suicide is dangerous public policy with potentially deadly consequences for everyone, but especially people with disabilities, the poor, and elderly. We should prioritize protecting these vulnerable members of society instead of adding to the challenges they face.
– Matt Valliere, Executive Director of Patients Rights Action Fund