Today, Governor Jerry Brown signed ABX2-15, a bill to allow terminally ill Californians to obtain medication to aid in dying.
The bill, ABX2-15, is authored by Assemblymember Susan Talamantes Eggman, D-Stockton, and was presented on the Senate floor by Senator Lois Wolk, D-Davis. It allows for mentally-capable, terminally-ill adults the option to request a doctor’s prescription for aid-in-dying drugs to painlessly and peacefully hasten their death.
The Bill passed from the State Legislature on Sept. 11, 2015 following a final vote of the senate, which had already passed a substantially similar bill earlier in the session.
California now becomes the 5th State to allow the terminally ill to end their life.
In the Governors Letter dated October 5, 2015:
ABx2 15 is not an ordinary bill because it deals with life and death. The crux of the matter is whether the State of California should continue to make it a crime for a dying person to end his life, no matter how great his pain or suffering.
I have carefully read through the opposition materials presented by a number of doctors, religious leaders and those who champion disability rights. I have considered the theological and religious perspectives that any deliberate shortening of one’s life is sinful.
I have also read the letters of those who support the bill, including the heartfelt pleas from Brittany Maynards family and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. In addition, I have discussed this matter with Catholic Bishop, two of my own doctors and former classmates and friends who take varied, contradictory and nuanced positions.
In the end, I was left to reflect on what I would want in the face of my own death.
I do not know what I would do if I was dying in prolonged and excruciating pain. I am certain, however, that it would be in the comfort to be able to consider options afforded by this bill. And I wouldn’t deny that right to others.
Sincerely,
Edmond G Brown Jr.
Legislative Summary for AB2x-15