CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — New Hampshire lawmakers are again considering the legalization of medically assisted suicide, though they’ve been unwilling in recent years to even study the issue.
Oregon became the first state to legalize medically assisted suicide in 1997, and since then, eight other states plus Washington, D.C., have done the same. The most recent was Maine, where Gov. Janet Mills signed the legislation into law in June. New Hampshire lawmakers rejected a bill to allow physician-assisted suicide in 2014 and in recent years also have killed legislation to study end-of-life issues.
On Wednesday, the House Judiciary Committee heard emotional testimony from both supporters and opponents of a new bill that would allow adults diagnosed with terminal diseases to request prescription medication to end their lives. A Hopkinton woman described her adult son’s recent death from pancreatic cancer in Oregon, saying he derived great comfort from the prescription he received even though he didn’t end up using it.
“Patients have statutory rights during their lives. Why would we deny them their rights in their final days?” she said.
Fran Chickering said she knows what it’s like to be “as close to death as you can be” during cancer treatment, and while she is healthy now, she wants to be able to have assisted suicide as a choice in the future.
“I know I’d want to have the ability to exercise my autonomy, my self determination, to make that decision once there was no more quality of life, no joy, no dignity,” she said.
Ben and Samuel Safford, Pelham brothers in their early 20s who have Duchenne muscular dystrophy, spoke in opposition to the bill, saying they live their lives to the fullest despite knowing their illness likely will be considered terminal by the time they are in their 40s.
“How would killing myself with a doctor’s permission give me dignity,” Ben Safford said.
At a news conference before the hearing, other opponents argued that such laws devalue the lives of people with disabilities.
“Embedded in the assisted suicide debate is a grimly veiled, ableist narrative which implies that disability is a fate worse than death,” said Lisa Beaudoin, executive director of the Able New Hampshire advocacy group.
Nancy Elliott, a former state representative from Merrimack and chairwoman of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition USA, highlighted the bill’s language about the mental anguish, the prospect of losing independence and embarrassing indignities experienced by people with terminal illnesses.
“This sounds like a disability. Before I lost my husband, this was the description of him,” she said. “It is cruel for the state to say that someone, like my husband, should not want to live and be pushed toward suicide.”
Opponents, which included religious organizations and hospitals, also argued the legislation flies in the face of efforts to reduce the state’s suicide rate, which increased by 48% from 1999 to 2016, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That was the third-highest increase in the country, and the state’s teen suicide rate in particular is significantly higher than the national rate.
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