Testimony: Vote HB1283 Inexpedient to Legislate
To the Members of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee. All of the following phrases will seem familiar because they were all heard in the discussion of this bill during the past few weeks.
To the Members of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee. All of the following phrases will seem familiar because they were all heard in the discussion of this bill during the past few weeks.
Good Morning. I’m Samuel Safford from Pelham, NH. At age 4, I was diagnosed with a rare genetic defect called Duchenne MD. It is fatal and has no cure. The doctors told my parents that my brother and I would not live long enough to graduate high school, never mind go to college or get …
Quick reminder that tomorrow (Wed @ 10am) is the Senate Committee hearing for HB1283, a bill to legalize assisted suicide. It will be in NH’s Legislative Office Building, room 103 (note room change from earlier).
There is ample evidence throughout history, much of it recent, that claiming compassion to justify government-sanctioned suicide is a trap. Yes, chronic pain is terrible, but not nearly so much as the power of a State that inevitably sees it as a way to solve problems it created or just “problems.”
As the mother and primary caregiver for two adult sons with significant disability, the legally responsible daughter for my 87-yo mom suffering from the early stages of Alzheimer’s, and the widow to my husband, who lost his battle with pulmonary disease back in 2012, I’d like to give my perspective on HB 1283 Assisted Suicide.
The New Hampshire House passed HB1283, also known as Assisted Suicide or Medical Aid in Dying, by a 179-176 vote this afternoon[0]. New Hampshire Right to Life (NHRTL) and a broad coalition of other organizations[1], staunchly oppose this legislation and call on the NH Senate and Governor to reject it.
States that open the door to medically assisted dying on the argument that it is compassionate are being used to leverage empathy for the terminally ill to advance a completely different agenda.
Proponents of HB1283 argue that, per a UNH survey, 71% of the people of NH were in favor of assisted suicide. After obtaining the survey and speaking with UNH, I found out that the NH Alliance for End-of-Life Options paid $1800 for the survey.
Today, the Granite State finds itself at a crossroads with the introduction of House Bill 1283, new legislation that seeks to legalize physician-assisted suicide (PAS). The bill effectively gives physicians permission to prescribe drugs that result in patient suicide.
I am writing with regard to the proposed bill to legalize assisted suicide in New Hampshire, which you have been (rightly) concerned about. I was horrified to learn that this is being proposed and packaged as a “medical freedom” bill.