House Committee approves resolution to overturn D.C.'s assisted suicide law

A Congressional committee has approved a resolution that would strike down a law that legalized assisted suicide in the District of Columbia.

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee voted 22–14 in favor of H.J. Res. 27, which aims to overturn the "Death With Dignity Act." Twenty-one Republicans and one Democratic member supported the resolution while 13 Democrats and one Republican opposed it, Life News reported.

The assisted suicide law, introduced by Democrat Mary Cheh, allows people with an estimated six months or less to live to ask their physician through a written request for medication that would end their life. Additionally, the patient must also make two verbal requests within 15 days.

The D.C. city council passed the act in November by a vote of 11–2, and it was signed by Mayor Muriel Bowser. However, the measure still requires approval from Congress, and some have urged legislators to reject the measure.

One of the most vocal opponents of the law is Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, who voiced his objection to the measure in an op-ed for the Washington Post.

"Certainly the federal government's commitment to preventing suicide is clear," Chaffetz wrote. "In fiscal year 2015, Congress allocated $55 million in the annual budget for suicide prevention efforts. The National Institutes of Health has spent more than $250 million since 2012 studying suicide prevention," he added.

Chaffetz asserted that the act is incompatible with the government's efforts to prevent suicides.

"We should not now or ever take steps to help facilitate, encourage or tacitly accept measures that prematurely end lives. In the interest of protecting D.C. residents, it is imperative that Congress act," he said.

The assisted suicide law is set to take effect on Feb. 17 unless a joint resolution of disapproval is enacted.

The pro-life group National Right to Life called on legislators to approve H.J. Res. 27. The organization argued that the law could become a means to push the medically vulnerable into an early death. The group also noted that the measure has no requirement that patients be screened for depression or other mental illness that can be treated.

Russell Moore, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) of the Southern Baptist Convention, also urged members of the Congress to act quickly on the resolution.

"Assisted suicide has nothing to do with dignity," Moore told Baptist Press in written comments. "It turns human life and death into marketable goods and undermines the inherent worth of every person, regardless of age, health or mental ability," Moore added.