Next Battleground on Doctor Assisted Suicide - California

Next Battleground on Doctor Assisted Suicide - California; Legislation to Legalize the Practice to Be Heard in Assembly Committee April 12

3/30/2005 8:43:00 PM

To: State Desk, Political Reporter

Contact: Tim Rosales, 916-473-8866 ext. 7, for Californians Against Assisted Suicide

SACRAMENTO, Calif., March 30 /U.S. Newswire/ -- California State Assembly Bill 654 (Berg/Levine), a measure to legalize the practice of doctor assisted suicide, will be heard in the Assembly Judiciary Committee on April 12, 2005. A similar measure failed the California Legislature in 1999 and an initiative to legalize the practice was defeated by voters in 1992 by 8 percent.

Opponents to doctor assisted suicide expected to fight this legislation include the California Medical Association, the California Disability Alliance, the Disability Rights and Education Fund, California Independent Living Centers and a host of other medical and disability rights groups.

Supporters of assisted suicide include Compassion & Dying (formerly known as the Hemlock Society USA) and the Euthanasia Research and Guidance Organization (ERGO).

ERGO president and Hemlock Society co-founder wrote in his book Final Exit, "What can those of us who sympathize with a justified suicide by a handicapped person do to help? When we have statutes on the books permitting lawful physician aid-in- dying for the terminally ill, I believe that along with this reform there will come a more tolerant attitude to the other exceptional cases."

Contact information for groups strongly opposed to doctor assisted suicide is available on the Californians Against Assisted Suicide website -- http://www.CA-AAS.com

Californians Against Assisted Suicide was established to defeat legislation that would legalize assisted suicide in California. CAAS is a coalition of health care, disability rights, and grassroots advocacy organizations united in strong opposition to the legalization of assisted suicide.

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