CV NEWS FEED // Bishops in California have released a statement condemning proposed expansions for the state’s assisted suicide laws.
In a March 21 news release, the California Catholic Conference announced that “it is vehemently opposed” to the recently proposed bill, SB 1196, that would eliminate critical safeguards and requirements for those seeking assisted suicide.
Under the state’s current End of Life Option Act, which was passed in 2016 and expires on Jan. 1, 2031, it is legal for qualified adult patients who are residents of California and are suffering from a terminal disease to request aid-in-dying drugs from their attending physician, according to the California Department of Public Health. In 2022, the state eliminated the requirement of a 48-hour waiting period between the first and second oral request and a final attestation for aid-in-dying drug form.
The amendment that Sen. Catherine Blakespear, D-Encinitas, proposed would eliminate the residency requirement and replace the term “terminal illness” with “grievous and irremediable medical condition,” that causes “physical or psychological suffering.”
The amendment most notably extends assisted suicide access to patients who suffer from early to mid-stage dementia, “while the individual still has the capacity to make medical decisions.”
“SB 1196 eliminates all of the potential ‘safeguards’ that were originally put into place when the End of Life Option Act was initially approved,” California Catholic Conference Executive Director Kathleen Domingo said in the release.
She said that allowing dementia patients and others struggling with psychological illnesses access to assisted suicide “opens up incredibly vulnerable people to the possibility of coercion or worse.”
“SB 1196 puts vulnerable patients at risk and violates the trust of fellow legislators who initially voted in favor of the Act because it was narrowly written and contained a sunset date,” Domingo said.
The Conference’s release said that while California state law prevents people who have cognitive disabilities from receiving the death penalty, SB 1196 would give people with the same cognitive disabilities access to lethal drugs outside of prison.
“Suicide rates in California continue to skyrocket in vulnerable communities. At a time when CA is reeling from medical and mental healthcare scarcities, introducing a bill inviting a vast population to consider suicide is like adding gasoline to a wildfire,” Domingo said.
