New Zealand will debate expanding it's euthanasia law.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

The New Zealand government is discussing expansions to their euthanasia law. The primary expansion that is being discussed is the removal of the 6 month terminal illness prognosis in the law to permit euthanasia of people with chronic conditions, similar to what Canada did in March 2021.

New Zealand passed a euthanasia referendum on October 17, 2020 with the euthanasia law coming into force on November 7, 2021. After less than three years of killing, a debate on expanding the law by removing the terminal illness requirement has begun.

Anne Whyte reported for The Press on August 29 that:

The ACT Party is in the process of making moves to widen the scope on euthanasia, launching back into the contentious issue that could have sunk the law when it originally went through Parliament.

The End Of Life Choice law currently has a range of requirements needed to be eligible for assisted dying, including being in an “advanced state of irreversible decline in physical capability” and experiencing “unbearable suffering that cannot be relieved in a manner that the person considers tolerable”.

They also need to have a terminal illness “that is likely to end the person’s life within six months”.

The ACT leader, David Seymour, who sponsored the original euthanasia law called the terminal illness requirement "a political compromise." Whyte reported:

“The six month limit was a political compromise,” ACT leader David Seymour said on Wednesday, at a petition handover in front of Parliament.

Seymour, speaking to CEO of advocacy group Social Justice Aotearoa Jackie Foster who delivered the petition asking Parliament for the euthanasia legislation to also allow those who have degenerative diseases, said he was “sorry that we made that compromise”.

“I never supported it. I never wanted it. I didn't introduce it that way. I had to compromise, because if I didn't get the votes, there'd be no law at all.”

Canada legalized euthanasia in June 2016. In March 2021 Canada passed Bill C-7 that removed the "terminal illness" requirement in the law, created a two-tier law by removing the waiting period for people who were terminally ill and adding a 90-day waiting period for people who were not terminally ill and allowing euthanasia for mental illness alone.

Euthanasia for mental illness alone remains contentious and has currently been delayed until March 2027.

In the United States, nearly every state that has legalized assisted suicide has later expanded their law.

The euthanasia lobby considers legal safeguards as a compromise that can later be removed from the law.