Olivia Turner of the Virginia Society for Human Life says a coalition is fighting against the measures that aim to legalize physician-assisted suicide for patients with terminal illnesses.
"No Suicide Virginia is a statewide organization of many groups -- medical groups, disability rights group -- all of us deeply concerned with what could happen in Virginia if our own protective law is undermined by the passage of this law and could possibly become law in the next few weeks," Turner tells AFN.
The Senate bill (SB 280), already approved by a narrow margin, would allow the patient to determine when his or her pain is intolerable. The House is scheduled to vote on a separate but related measure (HB 858) today.
"At this point, our hope is that the bill will not come out of the House, that it will be defeated, and that it will hopefully be a bipartisan vote," Turner relays. "This is the kind of issue that draws bipartisan support. It's not a Republican or Democrat issue."
If it does pass the lower chamber, then the differences in the two bills will have to be worked out and approved by both legislative chambers.
