A bill to legalize assisted suicide introduced in New Hampshire - again

House Bill HB 513 FN was introduced by Representative Charles Weed, Representative Parkhurst, and Representative Vaillancourt.

The bill is slightly amended from the bill that was defeated in New Hampshire in January 2010 by a vote of 242 to 113. Once again, the bill is an "Oregon style" bill that claims to have tight safeguards, where in fact the safeguards are an illusion.

The 2010 assisted suicide bill was a recipe for elder abuse. The current bill has similar problems.

The sponsors of the assisted suicide bill have pushed it into the Health, Human Services and Elderly Affairs committee rather than the Judiciary committee. The new strategy for the suicide lobby is to promote their bills as health care bills rather than amendments to criminal law. The suicide lobby believes that politicians are more likely to accept assisted suicide if it is defined within a medical model rather than a legal model.

Assisted suicide legalization bills have been introduced in Montana, Hawaii, and New Hampshire. Vermont Governor, Peter Shumlin, has promised to have an assisted suicide bill introduced in Vermont.