Montana lawmakers debate assisted suicide

NICK EICHER, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: the fight over assisted suicide.

Nine states and District of Columbia have legalized doctor-assisted suicide. Medical professionals practicing there are allowed by law to prescribe deadly drugs to terminally ill patients who want to die.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: But back in 2009, Montana’s highest court created a legal loophole for doctors to assist. Lawmakers have wrestled with the issue ever since, and pro-life advocates warn that emotion can obscure principle around the sanctity of life.

WORLD’s Leah Savas reports.

AMY REGIER: With that, we will open the hearing on House bill 637. [GAVEL] Representative, open when you’re ready.

JULIE DARLING: Thank you Madam Chair and members of the committee.

LEAH SAVAS: That was the start of an emotional hour and a half in a Montana House of Representatives committee the last week in February.

DARLING: I have the great honor of presenting to you the Montana patient and physician protections and Care Act.

Representative Julie Darling’s bill proposed to officially legalize assisted suicide for terminally ill Montanans. More than 20 members of the public spoke at the 7 a.m. hearing. Many supporters cited the suffering of loved ones as their reason for backing the legislation.

DORIS FISCHER: I speak today for myself and for my spouse, who died of Lou Gehrig's disease ALS back in 2009. Dick suffered such pain. In the end, he died without the peace of mind that the option of medical aid in dying would have offered him.

DAVID COOPER: My wife of 53 years, was a strong, energetic, community minded person. She was diagnosed with ALS, a 100% fatal disease. On a zero to 10 scale, she rated her pain at 13. She died in 2023.

But opponents also had personal connections to the issue. Montana Lieutenant Governor Kristen Juras was the first to speak against the bill and shared that two of her grandchildren have cystic fibrosis, a life-threatening genetic disorder that affects the lungs.

KRISTEN JURAS: My grandkids, most likely, are going to face a lung transplant. I want everyone to come alongside of them and not give them the option of saying, just don't go through the pain, don't go through the suffering.

She cited the most recent national statistics that show that Montana has the highest suicide rate in the country. The state has ranked in the top five for at least a decade.

JURAS: This state has consistently adopted a policy opposing suicide in any form. You cannot say that suicide is not appropriate in these situations, but is allowable in other situations. It sends a message that life doesn't matter in some instances, but it does in others…

Among the others who spoke against legalizing assisted suicide was Derek Oestreicher, chief legal counsel at the Montana Family Foundation. He didn’t share any personal stories in his testimony but later told me about his own experience.

DEREK OESTREICHER: I watched my own father pass away from from cancer, and it was very painful, and there was a lot of suffering, but I know personally, I am grateful to have had that time with him in those last moments. I think that that was important for him and for me.

Oestreicher said all the emotions rolled up in this debate make it complex—and sometimes hard to predict how someone will fall on the issue.

OESTREICHER: It really is an issue that transcends political ideology. So it doesn't necessarily matter if you're Republican or Democrat on this issue, because when you think of end of life and whether or not you're being compassionate, or whether or not you've had a loved one that's that's gone through a difficult passing, a lot of those personal feelings and experiences are brought to that issue.

Representative Julie Darling, the bill’s sponsor, is herself a Republican.

DARLING: You may ask, why I am bringing this bill, as it's not a subject matter that a Republican legislator would typically support, and with the permission of my nephews, I'm going to tell a story my little sister, Jackie Lee Nelson.

Her sister Jackie died from breast cancer last year. Jackie scheduled a date to take life-ending drugs but died the day before.

DARLING: I firmly believe that Jackie was able to let go that week due to the plan and choices she had set into motion. That plan met, she would not suffer, and her loved ones would not watch her suffer. Medical aid in dying is not a partisan issue. It's a freedom of choice, and with that, I request a do pass.

That appeal gained her support from another Republican when the committee voted on the bill two days later. Here’s Representative Tracy Sharp ahead of the vote.

TRACY SHARP: I'm very I'm anti abortion. For this particular bill, which I know there's a sanctity in life and all that, but I just can't vote to deny all the people that we heard, something that I would want for myself. For me, it would be too hypocritical. I would like to die with dignity. I just I feel very strongly about that, and that's why I will be supporting this bill.

He voted with every Democrat in the committee to advance the bill. During the hearing, he wasn’t the only Republican who appeared to be open to the legislation. But every other Republican in the committee ultimately voted against it. That killed the bill.

The committee is scheduled to consider the assisted suicide issue again later this month. It will be taking up a bill the Senate passed in February that proposes to close the legal loophole for assisted suicide that the state Supreme Court created in 2009. Similar bills have failed each session since that ruling, even though Republicans have consistently held a majority.

OESTREICHER: Sometimes even the most principled legislators seem a little confused on this issue.

Oestreicher said his organization is trying to help lawmakers see past the emotional appeals and to the pressure legislation like this could put on vulnerable, sick people.

OESTREICHER: So it starts out under the guise of compassion, but really it's, it's just another name for euthanasia for people that certain members of society consider a burden. It's not the right way to approach life as a precious gift, and it's really playing God in a very, very dark way. I think.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Leah Savas.

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