Committee Rejects New Hampshire Assisted Suicide Bill
November 12, 2009 (AP News)
A bill to legalize assisted suicide in New Hampshire lost key backing yesterday from a legislative committee when both supporters and opponents joined forces to reject it.
The House Judiciary Committee voted 14-3 against the bill that would let terminally ill patients over age 18 obtain lethal prescriptions, with safeguards to prevent abuses.
Supporters of assisted suicide said the bill was flawed and teamed up with opponents to vote against recommending the measure to the full House. The committee has been working on the bill since September.
The House votes on the recommendation in January. If the chamber accepts the committee recommendation, legislative rules make it nearly impossible for the issue to be brought up again next year.
Representative Nancy Elliott, a committee member who opposes assisted suicide, said she was pleased with the panel's decision. "It's not the function of government to encourage suicide in the young or the old," she said. "It's a prescription for elder abuse."
