New Mexico latest state to adopt medically assisted suicide
Associated PressSANTA FE, N.M. — New Mexico has become the latest state to provide a legal pathway for terminally ill patients to choose when and how they die. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed the Elizabeth Whitefield End-of-Life Options Act, named for a New Mexico judge who advocated for medically assisted suicide laws in 2017, and died from cancer the following year. “Dignity in dying — making the clear-eyed choice to prevent suffering at the end of a terminal illness — is a self-evidently humane policy,” said Lujan Grisham, in a long statement crediting Whitefield and other advocates for fighting to secure the ”peace of mind and humanity this legislation provides.” When the law takes effect on June 18, terminally ill patients with six months or less to live would be able to request lethal medication. With Lujan Grisham’s signature, there are now nine states — plus the District of Columbia — that have passed laws legalizing medically assisted suicide, according to the advocacy group Death with Dignity. New Mexico is the second state after New Jersey with a third or more of its population identifying as Catholic to legalize medically assisted suicide.
History of this topic
Vermont advances nonresident medically assisted suicide bill
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Woman sues over residency requirement for assisted suicide
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Assisted suicide bill narrowly clears Delaware House panel
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New Mexico Legislature moves to preserve abortion rights
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