SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The state Assembly on Wednesday approved legislation that would allow terminally ill patients to legally end their lives after an emotional and deeply personal debate, sending the proposal to the Senate, which is expected to endorse it.
It was the second effort by California lawmakers this year to allow doctors to prescribe life-ending medication after the highly publicized case of 29-year-old Brittany Maynard, a California woman with brain cancer who moved to Oregon to legally take her life.
Lawmakers from both parties invoked their religious faith in arguing for and against the legislation before voting 42-33 in favor.
“I, as a Christian, do not pretend to know what God has in mind for all of us, why there is pain or suffering in this world. But I do know he is a merciful God. And we have the ability to allow others to have a choice,” said Assemblywoman Catharine Baker, R-Pleasanton, who supported the measure. “I believe it is cruel — nothing short of cruel — to deny them that choice in their final hours and final days.”
Doctors are permitted to prescribe life-ending drugs in Oregon, Washington, Vermont and Montana.
It’s not clear where Gov. Jerry Brown, a lifelong Catholic and former Jesuit seminarian, stands on the issue.
