A bill that would allow physician-assisted suicide advanced in California Thursday.
The bill would allow adults suffering from incurable illnesses — that according to their doctors will eventually kill them within six months — to request medication to end their lives.
Despite extreme opposition from religious and medical organizations, the California State Senate appropriations committee approved the bill.
“We are one step closer to ensuring Californians have access to all options when they are facing the end of life,” said Sen. Lois Wolk, a Democrat who co-authored the bill.
The bill was inspired by 29-year-old Brittany Maynard, who, suffering from terminal brain cancer, moved from Oregon to California last year so she could commit suicide, according to Democratic state Sen. Bill Monning, who co-authored the bill. She ended her life on Nov. 1, 2014.
The bill as currently written allows hospitals and medical providers to refuse to comply with a patient’s request for assisted suicide. It also makes it illegal to pressure or manipulate someone into ending his or her life.
The bill now goes to the full Senate.
(h/t Reuters)
