Maine Governor LePage says he will veto assisted suicide bill.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director - Euthanasia Prevention Coalition.

Governor Paul LePage, of Maine stated that if passed he will veto the assisted suicide bill.

Governor LePage

According to the Portland Press Herald Governor LePage told a local radio show that he is against assisted suicide.

“I’m against it,” he said Monday during a radio interview on WVOM’s “George Hale and Ric Tyler Show.” Asked if the bill is destined for a veto, LePage said, “Yes. Here we are talking about death with dignity and we’re sitting there, human beings, passing judgment on who can live and who can die. No, I don’t believe in it.”

The Portland Press Herald reported that:

The primary bill, “An Act to Support Death with Dignity,” is scheduled to be discussed by the members of the Health and Human Services Committee Wednesday. A second ... bill, “An Act to Promote Life with Dignity,” also will be discussed Wednesday. The two bills are similar and will likely be combined before the committee votes to send its recommendation to the full Legislature. 

The outlook for passage has been uncertain. A similar proposal failed in 2015 by a single vote in the Maine Senate. 

However, LePage’s promise of a veto means the proposal now needs the support of two-thirds of the House and Senate, and it would require Republican supporters who vote for the bill to also vote to override a LePage veto.

Legalizing assisted suicide gives physicians the right in law to be directly involved with ending a patient. We believe in caring and not killing people.