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August
8, 2005 
VOL.
43, NO. 14Oakland,
CA
Assisted suicide bill shelved until January 2006
Legislation to make California the second state in the
nation to allow physician-assisted suicide was suspended by its co-authors
in the state Assembly on July 12. Assembly Democrats Lloyd Levine (D-Van
Nuys) and Patty Berg (D-Eureka), who proposed the measure, said they lacked
the votes necessary to pass it.
The legislation would have allowed mentally competent patients who are
not expected to live for more than six months to obtain a prescription
for life-ending medication.
The two legislators said they will renew their push for a similar measure
in January.
Ned Dolejsi, executive director of the California Catholic Conference
in Sacramento, responded to the authors’ claims in a statement.
“The authors claim they will resume their efforts in January after
they have time to ‘educate’ the public,” Dolejsi said.
“To date, education of the public has proved to be their nemesis
– when people understand what they want to legalize, they reject
the idea.”
Dolejsi noted that assisted suicide has been rejected twice in California.
In 1992, voters rejected Proposition 161, which would have legalized assisted
suicide. In 1999, the state Assembly failed to pass a proposed “Death
with Dignity” Act.
The Catholic Conference, public policy arm of the state’s Catholic
bishops, was part of a coalition of groups, Californians Against Assisted
Suicide, which opposed the Assembly measure. The coalition includes the
California Medical Association, the League of Latin American Citizens,
disability rights activists and other faith-based organizations.
The measure by Berg and Levine was initially proposed as Assembly Bill
654, which stalled and failed to meet a June 3 deadline for the Assembly
to vote on bills generated by its members. Berg and Levine then turned
to the Senate by gutting and amending an existing bill, AB 651, which
had already been sent to the upper house.
