Members in the West Virginia House of Delegates passed two life-affirming resolutions last week that reject euthanasia and assisted suicide.
HCR 74, “Defending Life by Rejecting Euthanasia” states that euthanasia will not be sanctioned by the state.
“It is necessary that the practice of euthanasia, which intentionally encourages and ultimately enacts the suicide of the elderly and the infirm, remains as foreign to the common life of West Virginia as it is to the health of any just and reasonable society,” the resolution states.
“The very possibility that doctors, whose authority in our society can be profound, may prescribe suicide as a solution to a terminal disease or disheartening prognosis, presents the act as a medicine rather than as the definitive rejection of all medicine, and so encourages suicidal desire to flourish.”
The bill passed with a vote of 87-9 and now heads to the state Senate.
READ: Experts warn Irish lawmakers against legalizing assisted suicide and euthanasia
The second bill, HJR 28 is a constitutional amendment that would prohibit assisted suicide and euthanasia in the state. It reads:
No physician or health care provider in the State of West Virginia shall participate in the practice of medically-assisted suicide, euthanasia, or mercy killing.
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, so long as the intention is not to kill the patient.
The amendment passed the House with a vote of 88-9 and will now go before voters as a ballot referendum.
Danielle Pimentel, Policy Counsel at Americans United for Life, praised West Virginia lawmakers for their life-affirming resolutions.
“This overwhelming passage is an encouraging step toward the constitutional protection of the elderly and disabled in West Virginia. We look forward to other states following the example of these courageous legislators,” she said.
