West Virginia Voters Pass Constitutional Amendment Banning Assisted Suicide

West Virginians narrowly approved a ballot question that would constitutionally prohibit people from seeking medical help to end their own lives, while preserving the state’s authority to kill convicted criminals.

The race wasn’t called until more than a week after Election Day. 50.4 percent of the votes In favor of constitutional amendment prohibitions “The practice of medically assisted suicide, euthanasia, or mercy killing of a person.”

The ban applies to both the person who wishes to die and the doctor or healthcare providers assisting in the effort. It does not prohibit palliative care or medications that may be dispensed to relieve pain and suffering (for example, doses of morphine administered during hospice care). The ballot initiative clearly preserves the state’s authority to impose the death penalty.

In both cases, change may be unnecessary. Assisted suicide is already illegal in West Virginia, and the death penalty was outlawed in the 1960s. Still, if you’re going to enshrine one of these bans in the state constitution, why explicitly exempt the other?

The actual result of the election is Tie the hands of future West Virginia lawmakers. With the newly approved constitutional amendment taking effect, state lawmakers will not be allowed to legalize physician-assisted suicide without making another constitutional amendment.

Physician-assisted suicide was already illegal in West Virginia, but the constitutional amendment put to the vote was a response to legalization efforts in other states. Oregon was the first state to legalize assisted suicide in 1997, and it is now legal in eight other states and Washington, D.C., through a combination of legislation and regulations. ballot initiatives. This was the first time voters were asked whether physician-assisted suicide should be banned rather than legalized.

Ballot question was by far the most competitive statewide race dark red in West Virginia. President-elect Donald Trump carried the state by 42 points, and Republican Senate candidate Jim Justice defeated retired Sen. He won the race to replace Joe Manchin (D–W.Va.) by 41 points. Republicans also won the state’s gubernatorial race, both congressional races, and supermajorities in the State House and State Senate.

This shows that although the West Virginia Republican Party is pushing the issue of physician-assisted suicide across partisan lines, at least for some voters. officially voted “yes” relevant.

Opponents of the ballot question said the constitutional ban on assisted suicide is unnecessary and an attack on West Virginians’ right to die with dignity.

The West Virginia chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) highlighted the contradictions of the purportedly pro-life amendment, including a specific provision to preserve the death penalty. “Constitutions exist to protect individual freedoms against excessive government interference,” the group said. a statement about the ballot initiative. “This change does the exact opposite.”

Unlike other hot-button culture war issues, the right to decide when to end one’s life has not (yet) been consumed by partisan politics. In a different state, or even a different election in West Virginia (given how close the results were), the outcome might be different.