The state of California is one step closer to introducing physician-assisted suicide, after the Senate Health Committee passed a bill that Brittany Maynard had campaigned for before her death.
The bill would allow terminally ill patients who are mentally competent and have fewer than six months to live, to be given a prescription for life-ending medication.
The proposed law has drawn particular public attention since brain cancer patient Brittany Maynard died in November, having moved from California to Oregon – where physician-assisted suicide is legal – in order to end her own life.
Maynard took her life just before her 30<sup>th birthday. She became the public face of the right-to-die movement after she recorded a video about her own story, which has been viewed by millions online. She also called for the introduction of the practice in her home state.
On Wednesday the Health Committee watched another video testimony from Maynard.
"I am heartbroken that I had to leave behind my home, my community, and my friends in California, but I am dying and I refuse to lose my dignity," Maynard said. "I refuse to subject myself and my family to purposeless, prolonged pain and suffering at the hands of an incurable disease."
One of the bill's authors, Democrat state senator Lois Wolk, told Reuters: "This end-of-life decision should remain with the individual, as a matter of personal freedom and liberty without criminalize those who help to honour our wishes."
Maynard's family have continued to campaign for the bill since her death and were at the Capitol on Wednesday.
Her mother, Debbie Ziegler, made an emotional plea, saying: "The time to act is now... Death was not negotiable, but how she died was. Only if she moved out of California."
Having received the necessary five votes needed to pass the Health Committee, the bill will now pass to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The bill is opposed by disability rights activists, who fear it would lead to the deaths of vulnerable people at the hands of unscrupulous relatives or caregivers.
They also fear insurance companies will push assisted suicide for those whose care is expensive.
"I've been given a terminal diagnosis at least four times," said Laurie Hoirup, 59, who uses a wheelchair. "Had I opted for this I would not be alive today."
Several religious groups also oppose the bill and previous attempts to introduce such a law have not been successful.
However, if it passes, California would become one of a handful of US states that allow assisted suicide, including Oregon and Washington. Last month, the Supreme Court of Canada cleared the way for physician-assisted suicide there. Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Switzerland are among countries that allow it.
Additional reporting by Reuters.
