{"id":328545,"date":"2025-03-28T16:48:37","date_gmt":"2025-03-28T21:48:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=328545"},"modified":"2025-03-28T09:13:40","modified_gmt":"2025-03-28T14:13:40","slug":"new-hampshire-lawmakers-pause-assisted-suicide-legislation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/new-hampshire-lawmakers-pause-assisted-suicide-legislation\/","title":{"rendered":"New Hampshire lawmakers press pause on assisted suicide legislation"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

Lawmakers in New Hampshire tabled a bill last week that would legalize assisted suicide \u2014\u00a0an action that means the bill is unlikely to be further considered this session.<\/p>\n

The House voted<\/a> 183-182 to pause the highly controversial House Bill 254<\/a>, due to the fact that many believed it would be unable to pass. Similar legislation cleared the House<\/a> last year only to be put aside in the Senate. According to the New Hampshire Bulletin<\/a>, lawmakers could still choose to bring the bill up for debate again, but are unlikely to do so.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do enjoy a debate of nine speakers such as we have lined up here as much as the next guy,\u201d House Majority Leader Jason Osborne said<\/a>. \u201cBut I also know that we don\u2019t need to have the same debate every year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Opponents in both the medical and disabilities fields spoke strongly against the bill during testimony earlier this year.<\/p>\n

John Jurczyk, president of Nashua\u2019s St. Joseph Hospital, said he was against legalized assisted suicide \u201cdue to the ethical, medical and societal implications.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe primary responsibility of health care providers is to preserve life,\u201d he said<\/a>, \u201cnot to facilitate its termination even in cases of terminal illness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michelle Flynn, a retired internal medicine physician, noted that she found it impossible to accurately determine whether or not a patient had six months to live \u2014 something that would have been required under the bill’s passage. \u201cI always get it wrong. I would say \u2018I think you have six months,\u2019 and people would have two years or vice versa,” she testified.<\/p>\n

Lawmakers also heard from Sam Safford, a man who testified that he was projected to live only until the age of four. He recounted experiencing a difficult period later in his life, where he feared he would have chosen assisted suicide had it been available.<\/p>\n

\u201cI began waking up every morning wanting to die,\u201d he said. \u201cIf assisted suicide had been legal when I was in the depths of my despair, it would have seemed like the best action. It would\u2019ve been a permanent solution to what I felt like was permanent pain.”<\/p>\n

Safford went on, \u201cFour years later, I can say that I am well and enjoy a rich and abundant life. My life has value and dignity in my living. I urge you to oppose this bill. The medical community and insurance companies will only use it to end the lives of people like me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The NH Coalition for Suicide Prevention (NHCSP) also publicly opposed the bill, writing, “One of the most alarming aspects of HB 254 is the message it sends about suicide.”<\/p>\n

“Public health officials and mental health advocates have worked tirelessly to prevent suicides, especially among teenagers, veterans, and those struggling with mental health challenges,” it added. “However, by legalizing physician-assisted suicide, the state would effectively be endorsing the idea that suicide is an acceptable option in certain cases.”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lawmakers in New Hampshire tabled a bill last week that would legalize assisted suicide \u2014\u00a0an action that means the bill is unlikely to be further considered this session. The House voted 183-182 to pause the highly controversial House Bill 254, due to the fact that many believed it would be unable to pass. Similar legislation […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":607,"featured_media":254949,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[4,3473],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nNew Hampshire lawmakers press pause on assisted suicide legislation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The NH Coalition for Suicide Prevention opposed the bill: "One of the most alarming aspects... is the message it sends about suicide."\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/new-hampshire-lawmakers-pause-assisted-suicide-legislation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New Hampshire lawmakers press pause on assisted suicide legislation\" 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