Vermont House of Representatives Defeats Assisted Suicide Bill
Part One of Two

Editor's note. I would love to hear your opinion on this great victory. Please write to daveandrusko@hotmail.com.

In what can only be described as one of the most stunning turnarounds in memory, Vermont's House of Representatives yesterday defeated an assisted suicide bill, patterned after Oregon's "Death With Dignity" Act, on a vote of 82 against to only 63 in support. As recently as a couple of weeks ago, it appeared that only a miracle could defeat H44.

That "miracle" came about and was comprised largely of enormously effective grassroots efforts, led by Vermont Right to Life and the Catholic Church, and the transforming power of real debate about a bill that would (in the worlds of Rep. Peg Flory) "tell our old citizens, our dying citizens, that we regard them as a burden." Rep. Flory spoke eloquently of caring for her father as he was dying of cancer.

According to Vermont Right to Life Executive Director Mary Hahn Beerworth, "the State House handled a record number of phone calls in the weeks leading up to the debate on the House floor--and it has been widely reported that the calls ran 10 to 1 against passage of H44."

Beerworth said proponents of H44 "had everything money can buy--eight of the top lobbyists in the state, television commercials featuring three former Governors running ad nauseam, and a House made up of liberal Democrats." She described the vote as "truly an historic moment."

"If legislation to legalize assisted suicide can be beaten in Vermont," she added, "it can be beaten anywhere!"

The results were surprising, not only because H44 was defeated, but also because of the size of the margin. Proponents, who were confident going in, took the public posture that the vote would be close.

The example of Rep. Patricia O'Donnell may illustrate the dynamics at play. O'Donnell had also watched her father die of cancer, according to the Burlington Free Press, and fully expected to vote in favor of the law.

"She changed her mind Wednesday afternoon, she said, as she listened to the debate and worried whether there were enough safeguards to prevent abuse of the law," the Free Press reported. "O'Donnell said afterward that it was the first time she's ever changed her mind about a bill while it was on the floor.

"'I think a lot of people changed their minds during the debate,' O'Donnell said."

The debate illustrated yet again that once discussion gets beyond the assurances of proponents of assisted suicide--to how such a measure would work in practice and what values would be lost--people have second thoughts.

Rep. Virginia Milkey, for instance, questioned whether the legislature ought to be in the business of changing the historic role of physicians. "Why not look at other ways we can relieve suffering?" she asked, according to the Free Press.

Rep. Kathy Lavoie insisted that legislators call a spade a spade, asking why, under the proposed law, the death certificate would list the patient's underlying illness rather than suicide as the cause of death. "Let's call this action what it is," she said.

In the March issue of NRL News, Beerworth wrote prophetically of the situation.

"Is passage inevitable? The simple answer is no, because defeat is unthinkable. With dedicated volunteers, prayers, and a coalition of Vermonters who are speaking out against assisted suicide, we are giving this fight everything we've got."

If you have any comments or questions, please write Dave Andrusko at daveandrusko@hotmail.com.

Part Two