By Dep't. of Medical Ethics B y the overwhelming vote of 19 to 5, the New Hampshire Senate defeated an effort to legalize assisting suicide, a major setback for pro-euthanasia forces, and a dramatic turnaround from just a few months ago. Last fall a key Senate committee recommended the bill's passage by a vote of 5 to 2. But rather than give into pessimism, anti- euthanasia forces went into high gear. The New Hampshire proposal was nothing if not extreme. It even went beyond Oregon's law authorizing assisted suicide, since it was explicitly not limited to those expected to die within six months.
Experience shows that such proposals can prevail when popular opinion is uninformed.
To counter the bill's initial legislative success, New Hampshire's Citizens for Life and the National Right to Life Committee sponsored a December training seminar for state leaders to show them how to educate their states about the immense danger of legalizing euthanasia. Among those attending was New Hampshire state Sen. Mary Brown, a tireless worker who played an instrumental role in reversing what seemed to be an inevitable drive to pass the bill. During the Senate floor debate, state Sen. Patricia Krueger explained that she had been expected to die from leukemia. She knew first-hand how bleak life can look from a death bed. I was petrified.