NH senator says he hopes for 'slow death' for End of Life Options Act. Here's why.

CONCORD — A New Hampshire Senate committee voted Wednesday to send the End of Life Options Act, which would allow terminally ill people to choose self-administered medical aid in dying, to “a slow death," in the words of one senator.

The Senate Health and Human Services committee voted 3-2 to send HB 1283 to interim study, leaving its future uncertain.

This is the first loss for the bill this year. HB 1283 narrowly passed the House in March by a vote of 179-176 with some lawmakers crossing the aisle: 36 Republicans joined 142 Democrats in voting for the bill. Thirty-three Democrats voted against it. At the Senate hearing on April 25, co-sponsors from both parties, Rep. Bob Lynn, R-Windham and Rep. Marjorie Smith, D-Durham, introduced the bill to the Senate committee.

But the Senate committee’s vote against the bill along party lines puts into question whether the bipartisan nature of the bill will continue into the upper chamber.

Fears of a 'slippery slope' with medical aid in dying

Senate President Jeb Bradley, R-Wolfeboro, Sen. Kevin Avard, R-Nashua, and Sen. Regina Birdsell, R-Hampstead, said it was their fear of a “slippery slope” that made them unable to support the bill.

“The slippery slope is at our door,” said Avard. “I don't want to open this door for the government to say 'OK, this is dignified, this is a death with dignity.' What determines what is dignity? Is it undignified to be suffering?”

Avard said he would have preferred to vote the bill inexpedient to legislate, but agreed to vote for an interim study provided that “we can give it a slow death.”

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Birdsell said the testimony of Lisa Beaudoin, the principal of Strategies for Disability Equity, where she said the law could be expanded to include ALS, multiple sclerosis, and Alzheimer’s disease, is what ultimately convinced her to vote against the bill. Currently, the bill only allows those given a timeline of less than six months to live by a doctor to take advantage of the law.

“It's deeply personal. It's not black and white at all. Having actually watched family members who've been in the last throes of life and how it’s painful and difficult — I've been there,” Bradley said. However, he added, “The testimony of those people that were opposed to the bill made it pretty clear that you start here, but then it expands and we've seen that with other things, many other things quite frankly.”

The bill has faced much pushback from members of the disability community who say the bill could pose a danger to them through expansion or coercion. As a former disability rights lawyer, Sen. Becky Whitley, D-Hopkinton, said that she ultimately decided that the appropriate protections are in place.

“I think what we're dealing with here is sort of the fundamental and core value of bodily autonomy, and that is an issue, a core value of mine that is deeply important to me,” said Whitley. “This is a bill that has been considered after many years of this being in place in other states and I feel like it's narrowly tailored, I feel the protections are in place. And so in the end, bodily autonomy and the dignity to make those decisions are weighing out.”

Sen. Sue Prentiss, D-West Lebanon, joined Whitley in voting against the interim study motion, saying that the “scope is narrow,” the “consent is tight,” and that this bill could bring people comfort in difficult situations.

HB 1283 next heads to the full Senate for a vote at a date not yet determined.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: NH senator wants 'slow death' for End of Life Options Act