By the resounding vote of 2,103,697 to 857,707, voters defeated an effort to legalize physician-assisted suicide in the state where Jack Kevorkian has acknowledged being involved in the deaths of at least 120 persons.
The measure's defeat means that a recently enacted state law with criminal penalties to prevent assisting suicide will remain in effect. Barbara Listing, president of Right to Life of Michigan, said, "We believe the vote ... is both a mandate in favor of life and a vindication of our organization, the legislature, and the governor, who have stood firm in saying that in Michigan we can do better than killing those who suffer. The people of Michigan through this vote have said, 'Give us dignity in our living and our dying. We do not want suicide in a prescription bottle.' "
Critically important to the victory was a coalition of 32 medical, disability rights, religious, and pro-life groups who organized as Citizens for Compassionate Care. The coalition not only labored to turn out the vote among euthanasia opponents, but also conducted a major educational campaign to convince those initially disposed to support the initiative of its dangers.
Ronald Bishop, vice chair of Merian's Friends, the group which sponsored the initiative, said, "We still had favorable polls up to about two months before the vote. Then the ... ad program by the opposition started to hit us."
Television and radio ads pointed out that newspapers had warned of the possibilities of abuse, that people would die against their will. They noted that with assisted suicide as an option, managed health care, insurance companies, and Medicaid could reduce and even eliminate some treatments for the terminally ill - - and that this focus on saving money would result in a change from "a choice to die to a duty-to-die." Ads noted that those who " could be hurt or pressured by their bill are elderly people, poor people, people who have a disability, and minorities."
The education campaign also focused on specifics in the proposal: e.g., that doctors would have to list the cause of death as terminal illness, instead of suicide, forcing them to lie. It pointed out the lack of public scrutiny, since the commission to oversee implementation of the euthanasia proposal would be exempted from otherwise applicable public disclosure laws. A particularly effective ad slowly panned a graveyard as the announcer said, "Throughout the ages, people everywhere have pondered, 'Where do we go when we die?' Because Proposal B would open Physician-Assisted Suicide to out-of-state family members the answer could soon be ... Michigan." The ad ended with a shot of a Michigan-shaped tombstone.
Noting the turnaround in public opinion, Listing commented, "This is no different than the repeated experiences we have had in the legislature with bills to legalize suicide. When legislators looked at the details of state-sanctioned death, they have consistently rejected these bills. It's no surprise that the citizens of Michigan came to the same result."
The election also saw the 62% to 38% defeat of Kevorkian's lawyer, Geoffrey Feiger, in his effort to unseat pro-life John Engler as Michigan's governor.
Meanwhile, the day after the election Kevorkian himself, who has repeatedly been acquitted of assisting suicide in jury trials, was convicted by another jury of misdemeanor assault and resisting arrest. The charges arose from an incident in which Kevorkian scuffled with police who sought to question him May 7 as he dropped off the body of a 26-year-old man with quadriplegia at a hospital. Kevorkian challenged the judge to sentence him to jail, threatening to go on a hunger strike if imprisoned. However, District Court Judge Daniel Sawicki instead fined him $700, which his lawyer paid.
As he left the courthouse, Kevorkian defiantly asked reporters, " You think I'm scared of all this?" It is widely assumed that Kevorkian will soon publicly defy the recently enacted protective law, setting up another legal confrontation in which his lawyers will ask jurors to nullify it by acquitting him.
Undaunted by their failure in the Michigan referendum, euthanasia advocates are already turning their attention to initiative efforts elsewhere. The Bangor Daily News reported November 7 that Susan Shell, of Mainers for Death with Dignity, said the group is working to get an assisted suicide initiative on the 2000 ballot. Ten percent of those voting in the last election are required to sign a petition to get an initiative on the ballot in that state, and the low 1998 turnout means that now only about 42,000 signatures will be required, instead of the nearly 52,000 needed previously.
"The Michigan referendum result is an important indicator that once citizens are accurately informed, they will turn against pro-euthanasia legislation," said NRLC Executive Director David N. O'Steen, Ph.D. "But we have no grounds for overconfidence. People continue to die in Oregon, and the pro-death movement is on the march looking for new targets. We need a nationally effective law, like the Nickles-Hyde Lethal Drug Abuse Prevention Act, to provide secure protection against euthanasia for vulnerable older people and people with disabilities."
In Michigan as well, the fight is far from over. "Right to Life of Michigan will continue to provide leadership in moving Michigan toward a day when there is no cry for assisted suicide," Listing said. "With the new partnerships we have formed through this campaign, we look forward to leading the nation in providing true compassion and dignity."