The pro-life group Right to Life of Michigan was alarmed in December when it learned bills were introduced in the Michigan Senate to legalize physician-assisted suicide, or euthanasia.
“This is a compassionate policy that would provide Michiganders and their loved ones with peace of mind when facing terminal illness,” state Sen. Mary Cavanagh, a bill co-author, said of the legislation.
Ironically, despite co-authoring the legislation, Sen. Cavanagh’s official website also boasts that she appointed someone to the Michigan Suicide Prevention Commission late last year.
Genevieve Marnon, of Right to Life of Michigan, tells AFN the issue hasn’t been seen in the state since 1998, when a ballot initiative to legalize it was roundly defeated by 71% of voters at the time.
“So I don't believe people’s attitude have changed that much in 25 years,” she says, “but we hope that these bills won't see the light of day.”
That defeated ballot initiative dates back 25 years, however, and Marnon concedes there is momentum in liberal states after 10 of them have now legalized the gruesome practice beginning with Oregon.
Her hope is that Michiganders know by now the slippery slope that has happened in those states, including Oregon, where safeguards that helped win over skeptics are whittled away over time.
In March, AFN reported Oregon’s law was shrinking a waiting period, dropping a residency requirement, and allowing physician assistants to write a prescription for the life-ending pill.
In the state of Washington, legislation introduced in 2021 promised to "increase access" to its physician-assisted suicide law by dropping "barriers" to the law. Those included loosening doctor consultations, watering down the definition of a psychological evaluation, and ending a waiting period, according to a study published by the Charlotte Lozier Institute.
