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Belt and braces in West Virginia

Assisted Dying has never been legal in West Virginia.   Worried that the current campaign to change that law might succeed, the supporters of the status quo decided to enshrine its illegality in the State’s Constitution.   They succeeded, but only just.

In May 2023 all West Virginia voters were asked to pass “Amendment One” to outlaw for ever “the practice of medically assisted suicide, euthanasia or mercy killing of a person”.   With 666,000 people voting, the amendment went through by a 1% margin.   Specifically, 50.5% were in favour and 49.5% were against.   This Amendment was added to West Virginia’s Bill of Rights.   It seems reasonable to assume that the 49.5% would also have voted the change the current law itself and thereby legalise Medical Assistance in Dying in West Virginia.   Assisted Dying is already legal in 10 US States.

This need not be seen a hammer blow to the pro-change campaigners.  A 50.5% victory can hardly be described as a ringing endorsement.   Presumably, a 50.5% vote the other way is all that would be required to pass “Amendment Two”, deleting the new bit that has just been added ?

Predictably, the campaign in favour of this Constitutional Amendment was led by West Virginia for Life (the local anti-abortion organisation) and actively supported by the Catholic Church.

© THE SWITZERLAND ALTERNATIVE 2024