Attempts to Legalize Euthanasia/Assisted-Suicide in the United States
In the United States, Oregon was the first state to legalize doctor-prescribed suicide. At that time, assisted-suicide advocates predicted that there would be a rapid “domino effect,” and other states would soon follow Oregon’s lead. But they were wrong. It took fourteen years before another state legalized the practice, and, even then, only after advocates spent a whole year preparing the campaign and raising millions of dollars to insure the victory they so desperately wanted. That state was Washington, the state consultants said was demographically most like Oregon and, therefore, most likely to favor assisted suicide.
In May 2013, Vermont passed an Oregon-style assisted suicide law and in September 2015, California passed a doctor-prescribed suicide bill.
In November 2016, Colorado voters approved a doctor-prescribed suicide bill and the District of Columbia passed such a law in December 2016.
In April 2018, after twenty years of such proposals, a doctor-prescribed suicide law passed in Hawaii.
But, since Oregon legalized assisted suicide in 1994, many states have rejected assisted-suicide measures, some multiple times. Between January 1994 February 2020, there have been 284 proposals in more than 43 states and the District of Columbia. Yet, over and over again, bills were either defeated, tabled for the session, withdrawn by sponsors, or languished with no action taken.
Here is a listing, by state, of all the ballot initiatives (since 1991) and all the legislative measures (since 1994) to legalize euthanasia and/or doctor-prescribed suicide in the U.S.
Note: As of 2017, some proposals not only include doctor-prescribed suicide but also would permit a non-physician to prescribe the lethal drugs for assisted suicide.
Ballot Initiatives that Passed
Ballot Measure 16 (Oregon Death with Dignity Act) passed on November 8, 1994, by the narrow margin of 51% to 49%. By legalizing physician-assisted suicide, the ballot measure transformed the crime of assisted suicide into a medical treatment.
Ballot Initiative 1000 (Washington Death with Dignity Act) passed on November 4, 2008, by a vote of 58% to 42%. The Washington law is virtually identical to Oregon’s assisted-suicide law.
Colorado — 2016
On November 8, 2016, Colorado voters approved Proposition 106.
Ballot Initiatives that Were Defeated
Washington State – 1991
Ballot Initiative 119, which would have legalized “aid-in-dying” (both doctor-administered euthanasia and doctor-prescribed suicide), was defeated by a vote of 54% to 46%.
California – 1992
Proposition 161, a ballot initiative that would have legalized euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide failed by a vote of 54% to 46%.
Michigan – 1998
Measure B, which would have legalized physician-assisted suicide, was overwhelmingly rejected by a margin of 71% to 29%.
Maine – 2000
Question 1, the “Maine Death with Dignity Act,” patterned after the “Oregon Death with Dignity Act” would have legalized physician-assisted suicide. It was defeated by voters 51% to 49%.
Massachusetts — 2012
Question 2, the “Massachusetts Death with Dignity Act,” patterned after the “Oregon Death with Dignity Act” would have legalized doctor-prescribed suicide. It was defeated by voters 51% to 49%.
Legislative Measures since January 1994 To see details of legislative measures and other developments, go to the specific page for each state at Site Map. |
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Alaska HB 371 (1996) HB 99 (2015) HB 54 (2017) Arizona SB 1007 (1996) HB 2167 (1999) HB 2454 (2003) HB 2564 (2004) HB 2311, HB 2313 (2005) HB 2372, HB 2357 (2007) HB 2387 (2008) HB 2347, SB 1136 (2016) HB 2336 (2017) HB 2102 (2018) HB 2408 (2019) HB 2582, SB 1384 (2020) HB 2254 (2021) Arkansas HB 1536 (2019) California AB 1080, AB 1310 (1995) AB 1592 (1999) AB 654 (2005) AB 651 (2006) AB 374 (2007) SB 128 (2015) AB 15 (2015) passed & signed into law SB 380 (2021) expansion bill Colorado HB 95-1308 (1995) HB 96-1185 (1996) HB 15-1135 (2015) SB 16-025 & HB-16-1054 (2016) SB 380 (2021) Connecticut HB 6928, SB 334 (1995) HB 6083 (1997) SB 1138 (2009) HB 6645 (2013) Raised Bill No. 5326 (2014) Raised Bill No. 7015 (2015) HB 6024 (2017) HB 6238 (2017) HB 5417 (2018) HB 5898, SB 374 (2019) HB 5420 (2020) HB 6425 (2021) SB 88 (2022) Delaware HB 150 (2015) HB 160 (2017) HB 140 (2019-2020) HB 140 (2021-2022) District of Columbia B21-0038 (2015) Passed DC Council 12/16 Florida SB 1800 (2020) Georgia SB 291 (2020) Hawaii SB 2095 (1998) HB 418, HB 347, SB 981, SB 692, HB 1155, SB 1037 (1999) HB 2491, SB2749, SB 709 (2001) HB 2487, SB 2745 (2002) HB 862, SB 391 (2003-2004) HB 1454, SB 1308 (2005) HB 3013, SB 2900 (2006) HB 675, SB 800, SB 1995 (2007) HB 587, HB 806, SB 1159 (2009) HB 803, HB 1383, HB 1165 (2011) HB 606 (2013) HB 1255 (2015) SB 2373 (2016) HB, 201, HB 150, HB 550 (2017) SB 357, SB 1129 (2017) HB 2736, HB 2739, HB 2218 (2018) SB 2727 (2018) HB 2739 (passed 2018, effective 1/1/19) SB 542, SB 2582 (2020) expansion bills SB 323 (2021) expansion bill HB 1823 (2022) expansion bill Illinois HB 601, SB 948 (1997) Indiana HB 1561, SB 273 (2017) HB 1157 (2018) HB 1184, SB 300 (2019) HB 1020 (2020) HB 1074 (2021) Iowa HB 2425 (2006) House File 65 (2015) SF 2051 (2016) SF 215 (2017), HF 299 (2017) SF 175, HF 374 (2019) SF 2156, HF 2302 (2020) SF 212 (2021) Kansas HB 2068 (2013) HB 2108 (2013) HB 2120 (2017) HB 2089 (2019) HB 2202 (2021) Kentucky HB 224 (2020) HB 506 (2021) Louisiana SB 128 (1999) Maine HB 552 (1995) LD 916 (1996) HB 663 (1997) IB 3, IB 10 (1999) LD 1065 (2013) S.B. 452 (LD 1270) (2015) LD 347, LD 1066 (2017) LD 1313 (2019) passed and signed into law Maryland HB 933, HB 474 (1995) SB 676, HB 1021 (2015) HB 404 (2016) HB 370 (2017) SB 354 (2017) HB 399, SB 311 (2019) HB 643 (2020) Massachusetts H 3173 (1995) H 1543 (1997) H 1468 (2009) H 2233 (2011) H 3884 (2012) H 1998 (2013) H 1991 (2015) SD 1225 (2017) HD 1194 (2017) H 1926, S 1208 (2019-2020) S 2745 (2020) S 1208 as amended HD 1456, SD 1456 (2021) Michigan HB 4134 (1994) SB 640 (1995) SB 653 (1997) HB 5474 (1998) HB 5802 (2016) HB 4461, HB 4462 (2017) Minnesota SF 1880 (2015) SF 1572 and HF 1885 (2017) HF 2152, SF 2286, SF 2487 (2019-2020) SF 1352, HF 1358 (2021, carried over to 2022 ) |
Mississippi HB 1023 (1996) SB 2283 (2017) Missouri HB 307 (2015) HB 1919 (2016) HB 524 (2017) Montana SB 220 (2013) SB 167 (2011) SB 220 (2013) SB 202 (2015) Nebraska LB 1259 (1996) LB 406 (1997) LB 70 (1999) LB 1056 (2016) LB 450 (2017) Nevada SB 336 (2015) SB 261 (2017) SB 165 (2019) SB 105 (2021) New Hampshire HB 339 (1996) HB 1433-FN (1998) SB 44 (1999) HB 304 (2009) HB 513 (2011) HB 1325 (2014) SB 426 (2016) (study bill only) SB 490 (2018) (study bill only) HB 1659 (2020) New Jersey A 3328, S 2259 (2012) A 2270, S 382 (2014) A 2451, S 2474 (2016) A 1504, S 1072 (2018) (carried over to 2019) Passed (April 2019) New Mexico SB 446 (1995) HB 814 (2009) HB 171 (2017) SB 252 (2017) HB 90, SB 153 (2019) HB 47 (2021) Bill passed New York S 1683, S 5024-A, A 6333 (1995) SB 4834 (1999) SB 677 (2001) AB 9360 (2012) withdrawn AB 02129 (2015) S 3685 (2015) S 5814 (2015) A 5261 (2015) A 5261-C (2016) A 10059 (2016) A02383, S03151 (2017) A03598 (2017) A02694 (2019-2020) Ao4321 (2021) North Carolina HB 611 (2015) HB 789 (2017) HB 879 (2019) North Dakota HB 1415 (2021) Ohio SB 249 (2018) Oklahoma HB 1673 (2015) HJR 1009 (2017) HB 2585 (2018) Oregon HB 2217, HB 2232 and HB 2703, SB 579 (2019) Pennsylvania HB 1435 (2007) SB 404 (2009) SB 431 (2011) SB 1032 (2013) HB 2548 (2014) SB 549 (2015) HB 943 (2015) SB 238 (2017) HB 2033 (2019-2020) SB 405 (2021) HB 543 (2023-2024) Rhode Island SB 2985 (1995) SB 2869 (1998) SB 2763 (2001) HB 7428, SB 2766 (2006) HB 6080 (2007) H 5507 (2015) H 7659 (2016) H 5468, S 0224 (2017) H 7297 (2018) S 0157, H 5555, S 0320 (2019) H 7369 (2020) H 5572, S 775 (2021) H 6600 (2022) Tennessee SB 1362 (2015) SB 1378, HB 1394 (2017) Utah HB 391 (2015) HB 264 (2016) HB 0076 (2017) HB 210 (2018) HB 121 (2019) HB 93 (2020) HB 74 (2021-2022) Vermont H 335 (1995) H 109 (1997) H 493 (1999) H 318, S 112 (2003-2004) H 168 (2005-2006) H 44, S 63 (2007) H 455, S 144 (2009) H 274, S.103 (2011-2012) S 77 (2013) passed 5/13 S 74 (2021) expansion bill S 74 (2022) expansion bill PASSED Virginia HB 2713 (2019) HB 1649 (2020) Washington SB 5596 (1995) SB 6576 (1998) SB 6843 (2006) Legalized by ballot initiative (2008) HB 2326, HB 2419 (2020)(expansion bills) Substitute HB 1141 (2021) (expansion bill) Wisconsin AB 174, SB 90 (1995) AB 32, SB 27 (1997) AB 297, SB 124 (1999) AB 417, SB 184 (2001) AB 348, SB 169 (2003) AB 507, SB 224 (2005) AB 298, SB 151 (2007) SB 28, AB 67 (2015) AB 216, SB 312(2017) AB 552, SB 499 (2019-2020) AB 1078 (2022) Wyoming SB 7 (2004) HB 0119 (2015) HB 0122 (2017) |
For details about each state: see Site Map.
For more extensive information about U.S. proposals to legalize euthanasia and assisted suicide, see:
“Euthanasia, Assisted Suicide & Health Care Decisions” (2006)
“Assisted Suicide & Death with Dignity: Past, Present & Future” (2004)
“Assisted Suicide: The Continuing Debate” (2002)
“The Art of Verbal Engineering” (1996)
Update: on-line editions (1996 – Present)