CV NEWS FEED // After the Connecticut General Assembly decided not to consider a bill legalizing assisted suicide, a representative who worked to introduce the legislation expressed confidence that it will eventually succeed.
“It’s just a matter of when,” said Rep. John Elliott, a Democrat, who introduced House Bill 5625 in January alongside Rep. Jonathan Steinberg and Sen. Martha Marx, according to a Feb. 21 report published in Connecticut Public Radio.
The news report said that the Connecticut General Assembly’s Public Health Committee did not raise the bill quickly enough for it to advance, bringing its progression to a halt.
Elliott said the committee may have decided against considering the bill because there are more pressing health topics at hand, so spending a day on an assisted suicide bill may have not been seen as “a good use of our time.” He noted that he personally disagreed with this idea, and also said that the legislation could be introduced next year.
Cathy Ludlum, a leader with the disability rights advocacy group Second Thoughts Connecticut, said that the organization is grateful the committee did not consider the bill.
“People in distress need support, not a fast-track to death,” Ludlum said, according to Connecticut Public Radio.
Ludlum has repeatedly testified against legislation in favor of assisted suicide. In 2022, she testified before the Public Health Committee, sharing her story as a professional who has a disability. She pointed out that the bill’s provisions allowed for her to qualify for assisted suicide and that legalizing this practice would put persons with disabilities especially at risk.
“Suicide is contagious, and this is suicide, no matter how often and fervently you deny it,” Ludlum said at the time. “I am not alone. Many people are hanging on by a thread. Maybe because of unmet disability needs. Maybe because of economic distress. Maybe from isolation and sadness.”
“Do we as a society want to strengthen that thread so it does not break?” she continued. “Do we want to make sure people who need supports (whether home care or other supports) get them? Or do we want to create a policy that says, in effect, ‘ending your life is reasonable if your problems are big enough’?”
She urged legislators to vote against the bill.
Catholic leaders and dioceses are fighting similar legislation in other parts of the country, such as Illinois and Delaware, and the world too, such as in the United Kingdom. The Catholic bishops of England, Wales, and Scotland have been vocally and prayerfully opposing the push to legalize assisted suicide, urging instead for the prioritization of holistic palliative care that upholds the dignity of life.
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