District of Columbia OKs assisted-suicide bill

WASHINGTON—Washington, D.C., City Council members advanced a measure to allow terminally ill residents to get lawful help to kill themselves.

“While I still have religious reservations as to the ending of a life, I have an even greater reservation telling a terminally ill resident that he or she must continue to fight while knowing that to the best of medical ability there is no recovery,” said Councilman Brandon Todd, who voted today to legalize assisted suicide.

The 13-member Council voted 11-2 to legalize the Death With Dignity Act in a public hearing room packed with advocates from both sides. The law allows terminally ill adults given six months or fewer to live to obtain lethal drugs from their doctor that they can self-administer. The measure must still pass a final vote and be signed by Mayor Muriel Bowser, who has indicated her support for it. Five other states— California, Montana, Oregon, Washington, and Vermont—allow physician-assisted suicide.

Todd and several other members of the Council expressed emotional misgivings about making it easier for D.C. residents to kill themselves, but rationalized support for the bill saying citizens should have the option of suicide.

“While I have strong personal feelings with regards to the creation of the universe and humanity, I do not have the authority to impose my views on others,” Councilwoman Anita Bonds said. “I will not take the liberty of even thinking for others on matters of life or death.”

Councilman Kenyan McDuffie concurred with Bonds and fought back tears while he explained why he would vote for the bill. He took a long pause while he spoke about his father’s death earlier this year and said it was unbearable to watch him suffer at the end of his life. McDuffie said he reluctantly supported the legislation and saw both sides of the issue, but residents needed to be able to make their own choices.

“Please know we are only trying to do what we think is right,” he told the dozens of pro-life advocates in the room.

Advocates stood outside the government offices on Pennsylvania Avenue for hours before the Council voted. Many held signs that read “Do No Harm”—a reference to the Hippocratic Oath physicians take—and wore red T-shirts from No DC Suicide, one of the bill’s strongest opponents.

After the vote, representatives from the Little Sisters of the Poor, the D.C. Archdiocese, The Charlotte Lozier Institute, and other groups held hands outside the hearing room and prayed together.

“They say this is about autonomy and choice, but it’s not—it’s about removing culpability from doctors,” Catherine Glenn Foster, executive director for the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition USA, told me after the vote. “You’re empowering people to kill themselves.”

Glenn Foster listed the problematic questions the bill raises: What if patients become incapacitated once they get the drugs? Will someone else give them the medicine? What if patients change their minds? Couldn’t they feel pressured to follow through with killing themselves?

Yvette Alexander was one of the two City Council members who voted against the bill. After telling the Council she would vote no, Alexander suggested the bill become a ballot initiative so every resident, not just a 13-member board, could weigh in on the decision.

After hearing the news, Ryan T. Anderson of the Heritage Foundation, wrote that legalizing assisted suicide wouldn’t solely impact those knocking at death’s door, but would have far-reaching implications for everyone.

“Too many people view physician-assisted suicide as a purely private matter between an autonomous adult who desires to die, and another autonomous adult who can provide medical assistance in death,” Anderson said. “Changing the laws that govern how doctors operate will change the entire ecosystem of medicine. It’ll change how doctors relate to their patients and how much patients can trust their doctors.”