oregon passed the death with dignity act in 1994.
oregon passed the death with dignity act in 1994.
when did oregon pass the death with dignity act?
1994
assisted death is legal in the american states of california (via the california end of life option act of 2015, enacted june 2016), colorado (end of life options act of 2016), hawaii (death with dignity act of 2018), oregon (via the oregon death with dignity act, 1994), washington (washington death with dignity act of 2008), washington dc (district of columbia death with dignity act of 2016), new jersey (eff. august 1, 2019 - new jersey dignity in dying bill of rights act 2019), maine (eff. january 1, 2020 - maine death with dignity act of 2019) and vermont (patient choice and control at end of life act of 2013). in montana (through the 2009 trial court ruling "baxter v. montana"), the court found no public policy against assisting suicide, so consent may be raised as a defense at trial. oregon and washington specify some restrictions. it was briefly legal in new mexico from 2014, but this verdict was overturned in 2015. maine is the most recent state that has legalized assisted suicide, with a bill passed by the state assembly in june and approved by the governor on june 12, 2019. goes into legal effect on january 1, 2020.
assisted suicide
in 1993 oregon right to die, a political action committee, was founded to draft and pass oregon's death with dignity ballot measure 16. the following year the oregon right to die pac (ordpac) campaigned successfully for the passage of measure 16 in oregon; 51% of oregon voters approved the death with dignity ballot initiative which created the oregon death with dignity act allowing those who are terminally ill to hasten death in consultation with their physician and under strict safeguards, making oregon the first u.s. state and one of the first jurisdictions in the world to officially do so. subsequently, the oregon death with dignity legal defense and education center (odldec), the forerunner to the death with dignity national center, a 501(c)(3) organization, was founded to defend the voter-approved law. in 1997, oregon right to die political action committee successfully defeated measure 51, an attempt to ban death with dignity in oregon, by a margin of 60% to 40%.
death with dignity national center