New Mexico legislators listened, read the assisted suicide bill and opposed it.

This story was published by OneNewsNow on March 14, 2019

Alex Schadenberg

The fate of New Mexico's doctor-assisted suicide bill has been decided for now: legislators listened to their constituents and now the measure is dead.

Alex Schadenberg of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition has described HB 90 as the most dangerous physician-assisted suicide bill he had ever seen.

One reason is that is also permits euthanasia, when a doctor takes the life of another person, and he was also concerned about questionable language in the bill and allowing a brief 48-hour waiting period.

“It allowed assisted suicide for mental health conditions,” he warns. “It did not protect physicians’ conscience rights even so they were forced to refer.”

The latest news is that the bill sponsor Deborah Armstrong did not have the votes for passage and asked that it be tabled. And it was.

Schadenberg, who led a session in January to help New Mexico residents oppose the bill, attributes the success to citizen activism in the Land of Enchantment.

Citizens contacted their legislators to alert them to the bill’s language, he says.

But Schadenberg cautions the measure is dead only for now and he predicts it will return.