Get ready to oppose assisted suicide bills in your state.

Alex Schadenberg

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, 

Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

The mid-term election resulted in a significant shift in political representation with the Democrats taking control of the US House and Senate.

At the State level there were six states that went from bipartison control to a Democrat state Trifecta. The shift in political control does not mean that these states will pass assisted suicide bills but it does suggest that these states will have a contentious debate about legalizing assisted suicide.

Currently assisted suicide is legal in 13 states and 1 jurisdiction (California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Montana (Baxter court decision), New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Vermont, Washington State, and the District of Columbia (DC).

For those who think that there is a tidal wave of support for assisted suicide, in the past two years assisted suicide was debated in at least 20 states with most of those states defeating the assisted suicide bill.

Wesley Smith

There are many reasons to oppose assisted suicide. Wesley J Smith recently stated that:

The primary hope of preventing legalization in blue trifecta states rests with the disability rights community, which is part of the liberal/progressive coalition, but sees — correctly, in my view — assisted suicide as targeting them. Civil rights activists, legislators of color, and more traditional Democrats also often oppose assisted suicide. Pro-lifers and medical associations have a part to play, too. It takes a strange bedfellow coalition to defeat these bills in Democrat-controlled states, so we’ll see how it goes.

The medical community is another key ally in defeating assisted suicide bills since assisted suicide directly affects their profession. Legalizing assisted suicide changes the way medical treatment is perceived.

Smith also warned that states that have legalized assisted suicide will likely debate bills to expand the killing. Smith stated:

The other Democratic trifecta states have already legalized assisted suicide. But that is never the end of it. The first laws passed are not meant to be ceilings but launching pads. So, expect bills in at least some of these states to be filed loosening eligibility or otherwise allowing more sick people to get dead faster.

Assisted suicide, once legal, will inevitably expand (Article).

I am concerned that at least one state will, once again, debate a bill that legalizes euthanasia (medical homicide).

Assisted suicide bills will likely be debated in more than 20 US states in 2027. Each state needs to build a coalition of people and groups that oppose assisted suicide from multiple perspectives. The coalitions may be loosely associated since some of the groups may not feel comfortable working with other groups. 

The key to coalition building is to only focus on the issue of assisted suicide.

I personally suggest that a loose coalition, that works together, is more effective than a tight coalition. We have seen in several states that loose coalitions enable diverse groups to freely oppose assisted suicide.

People will oppose assisted suicide for different reasons.

It is also important to focus on the basics and be willing to say that assisted suicide kills people.

There are many important issues to oppose assisted suicide. One issue is how assisted suicide is done.

The assisted suicide lobby doesn't talk about how assisted suicide is done. They want you to think that people are given a few pills and quickly and peacefully die. This is not always the case.

In Oregon, where assisted suicide has been legal for more than 25 years. The 2025 Oregon assisted suicide report indicated that the longest time of death was 123 hours (more than 5 days).

123 hours to die by lethal poison is not an outlier. The Oregon 2023 assisted suicide report indicated that the longest time of death was 137 hours (almost 6 days). 

Deaths that take 137 or 123 hours are not peaceful or dignified deaths

There may be many more drawn out assisted suicide deaths but the Oregon yearly assisted suicide reports only indicate the longest time of death and the other states don't publish this data.

One of several articles on this topic was written by Lisa Krieger and published by the Medical Xpress on September 8, 2020. Krieger reported:

A little-known secret, not publicized by advocates of aid-in-dying, was that while most deaths were speedy, others were very slow. Some patients lingered for six or nine hours; a few, more than three days. No one knew why, or what needed to change.

"The public thinks that you take a pill and you're done," said Dr. Gary Pasternak, chief medical officer of Mission Hospice in San Mateo. "But it's more complicated than that."

The assisted suicide lobby developed the lethal poison using human trials rather than animal trials. The "developers" were concerned with the lethal efficacy and cost of the poison cocktail as opposed to the negative consequences associated with the poison.

We must never lose hope. Britain and Scotland both defeated assisted suicide bills with a combination of Conservative and Labour Party representatives voting against assisted suicide.

The nation of Slovenia won a referendum to overturn their assisted suicide law by focusing on what assisted suicide is.

Assisted suicide is a life and death issue. Preventing legalization means the prevention of killing. Stay focused.