Vermont became the third state to legalize assisted suicide and it looks as if the New England state will remain that way, for now as lawmakers defeated a measure to repeal the law. The debate on the Assisted Suicide law now goes to the House of Representatives.
The vote to repeal failed 12-18, with three legislators who flip-flopped on assisted suicide — having been opposed to it before but opposing the effort to repeal the assisted suicide law. Those legislators included Senators Ann Cummings, Bill Doyle and Senator Nitka.
Despite the vote, Vermont Right to Life leaders insist they will continue to promote the right to life of people who are elderly, disabled or terminally ill.
Click here to sign up for daily pro-life news alerts from LifeNews.com
“We want to thank all who stood strong and fought hard for Repeal of this disgraceful law. You have our admiration for standing up to protect patient’s rights to life and freedom from abuse, errors and outright coercion,” the pro-life group told LifeNews in an email.
“The Amendment to Repeal Act 39 entirely was sponsored by Senator Norm McAllister, who made an emotional and powerful speech on the Senate floor. The Repeal movement wants to especially thank Senator McAllister and Senator Peg Flory for their efforts to overturn the law and protect patients,” the group said.
Those Senators who voted pro-life [for repeal] were:
Benning, Campbell, Collamore, Degree, Flory, Kitchel, Mazza, McAllister, Mullin, Sears, Starr, Westman.
Those Senators who voted in the negative [against repeal] were:
Ashe, Ayer, Balint, Baruth, Bray, Campion, Cummings, Doyle, Lyons, MacDonald, McCormack, Nitka, Pollina, Rodgers, Sirotkin, Snelling, White, Zuckerman
As of now, there have been seven prescriptions written for lethal drugs and two confirmed assisted suicide deaths. Two people died before taking the lethal drugs.
