West Virginia ballot initiative would constitutionally prohibit euthanasia.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

The Washington Stand published an article by Sarah Holliday on September 2, 2024 that reports on the West Virginia Ballot Amendment 1 which, if passed, would prohibit euthanasia and assisted suicide in the state constitution.

Holliday reports:

Amendment 1 has recently been added to the state’s November ballot with the intention of providing “protection against medically assisted suicide.” Ultimately, “the amendment just places what’s already illegal in West Virginia into the state constitution for more security going forward,” said Pat McGeehan (R), a West Virginia state delegate, on Tuesday’s episode of “Washington Watch.” If this amendment is passed, West Virginia would become the first state to amend their constitution to prohibit assisted suicide.

Holliday reports what Amendment 1 states:

“No person, physician, or health care provider in the State of West Virginia shall participate in the practice of medically assisted suicide, euthanasia, or mercy killing of a person. Nothing in this section prohibits the administration or prescription of medication for the purpose of alleviating pain or discomfort while the patient’s condition follows its natural course; nor does anything in this section prohibit the withholding or withdrawing of life-sustaining treatment, as requested by the patient or the patient’s decision-maker, in accordance with State law. Further, nothing in this section prevents the State from providing capital punishment.”

Pat McGeehan

Holliday interviews Pat McGeehan (R) who initiated Amendment 1. Holliday writes:

Even though assisted suicide is “implicitly illegal in West Virginia,” McGeehan stated, “we want to send a message against this sort of nihilistic euthanasia movement sweeping the Western world.” And to fight against it properly, “You need to have it in the state constitution, because laws are not simply prescriptive, they’re also pedagogical. They teach people.” It’s McGeehan’s goal for West Virginia to become “the gold standard” in this push against euthanasia.

McGeehan referred to Canada’s MAID program as “just a fancy way of saying they’re killing their own citizens in Canada,” and he noted that it’s “horrific” that the practice is the “fifth leading cause of death” in the country. But Canada is far from the only proponent of euthanasia. In the U.S., “[T]en states have legalized euthanasia in one form or another.” Some states, such as Oregon and Vermont, have actually “opened up their euthanasia programs to not just their state residents, but to non-residents,” McGeehan explained. This, he added, has led to a “sort of euthanasia tourism,” which has “essentially grown into a whole marketplace for non-residents coming in to kill themselves.”

The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition supports Amendment 1 and we urge Americans to support this initiative financially and otherwise to enable West Virginia to successfully pass Amendment 1.