The Council of the District of Columbia today passed the Death with Dignity Act. With a 11 to 2 vote, the Councilmembers recognized their constituents need the option to control how they die.
We could not be more excited, proud, and grateful. Excited to see the fruits of nearly two years of our work with the bill’s sponsor, Councilmember Mary Cheh, and her colleagues. Proud of the hard work the Councilmember and her staff did shepherding the bill through the Council in collaboration with our organization, the first national right-to-die advocacy organization on the ground in D.C. And grateful because it has been your emails, phone calls, and donations that have brought us to this point.
Sign the Thank You Card
We are also grateful to the Councilmembers for voting to make sure D.C. residents who face death from a terminal illness can choose from a full range of end-of-life options. Please join us and sign this thank-you card to them:
Rather than give in to the dishonesty and lies the opponents of Death with Dignity threw at them, the Councilmembers evaluated the facts we presented and listened to the will of the people. Two in three DC residents support this option, allowing qualified terminally-ill people to end their lives in a legal, peaceful manner.
Since the effort to enact this legislation began nearly two years ago, the Death with Dignity National Center has been at the center of efforts to provide the end-of-life option for terminally ill residents of our nation’s capital.
While your committed support and our tireless work got us to this point, it is the Councilmembers that passed the law. Please sign the thank you card to them today.
We are this close to the Act becoming law in D.C. But our work is not done. The Council has to vote once more (the bill will be up for a second required vote by December 6), the Mayor has to approve the Act, and Congress has to let the Act stand. All in due course. Today we celebrate this achievement and thank the Councilmembers. We hope you will join us by signing the thank you card.
Image by Narith5.
6 Comments.
Death With Dignity Act – Dignified Death
[…] Get involved and click this link to sign the thank you card! […]
gary mcintyre
Great when does it take effect?
Gregoria naldo
Thou shat not KILL! I am 96 years years old willing to suffer for Jesus and the salvation of you all who are killers
Michelle
When does this take effect? This is one of the most important things DC has ever done, and I as a person living in the city, am proud that it passed. I plan to make my passing (if possible) as easy as possible. We all deserve that considering how life kicks you around.
Jim Kubalewski
We don’t dignify human beings by killing them or assisting in killing themselves. We dignify human beings by being compassionately with them until natural death. This bill will only hasten the day when the State will be able to end the lives of the elderly and call it dignified. It will all be done hiding behind positive words. All the language in the world like Dignity, compassion, kindness, empathy, etc… will not make the reality of this less destructive. People need to be accompanied in their suffering, not destroyed. This may have its beginnings with voluntary death for those suffering from terminal diseases; but it will not end there.
In the future, anyone suffering terribly from life’s stress will be able to take their lives. What a terrible thing to teach our children, that when sufferoing gets bad enough, we can just choose to die.
How did we ever survive for thousands of years without the ‘right to die’?
Death with Dignity
You are free to suffer for any reason you wish, Gregoria. We simply ask that those who do not wish to do that be allowed to pursue their own wishes.
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