Results of the national elections, completed this past week, added five states that will be ripe for legalizing assisted suicide. They are Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
Most have already seen serious efforts to legalize doctor-prescribed death. Indeed, the electorally late (defeated for reelection) Governor Joe Lombardo of Nevada vetoed a legalization bill a few years ago.
Other states have not yet legalized assisted suicide. They are Virginia, Maryland, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. Efforts have been made to legalize assisted suicide in all of these as well, with Massachusetts voters rejecting assisted suicide in 2012 — thanks in large part to the opposition by Ted Kennedy’s widow.
I think all of these states will see renewed legalization attempts in the next two years. At least a few will pass. That’s not a sure thing, of course. Indeed, last year I was pleasantly surprised when legislators in Virginia defeated a bill in committee. But Governor Spanberger supports legalization, so I am sure they will try again.
The primary hope of preventing legalization in these states rests with the disability rights community, which sees — correctly, in my view — assisted suicide as targeting them. Civil rights activists, legislators of color, and others also often oppose assisted suicide. Pro-lifers and medical associations have a part to play, too. It takes a strange bedfellow coalition to defeat these bills, so we’ll see how it goes.
Other states have already legalized assisted suicide. But that is never the end of it. The first laws passed are not meant to be ceilings but launching pads. So, expect bills in at least some of these states to be filed loosening eligibility or otherwise allowing more sick people to get dead faster.
Because there can never be enough assisted suicide.
Cross-posted at National Review.