Source: PHOTO: Raymond Boyd/Getty Images
STATEHOUSE — Lawmakers are in the final week of the legislative session as some put in last-ditch efforts to pass bills and resolutions they would like to see sent to Gov. Eric Holcomb for his signature.
One of those resolutions was discussed in the State Senate on Monday as a resolution condemning the use of assisted suicide for medical patients was brought up for a second reading on the chamber floor. It sparked some fierce back and forth between Republicans and Democrats.
State Sen. Tyler Johnson (R-Leo) is the one who authored the resolution. He used Canada as an example of where assisted suicide is permitted.
“Touted as compassionate, it seems this is a fundamentally pragmatic decision to control costs, harvest organs, and limit the hassle of taking care of the troublesome, elderly, and the indigent,” Johnson claimed. “Unfortunately there are those in this world who have embraced this evil to promote suicide to even the most vulnerable among us.”
Democrats fervently admonished Johnson’s claims in their rebuttal. State Sen. Shelli Yoder (D-Bloomington) said it was irresponsible to insinuate that “assisted suicide” and “medical aid and dying” are the same thing.
“Factually, legally, and medically speaking it is inaccurate to equate medical aid and dying with assisted suicide,” Yoder said. “With medical aid and dying the person is terminally ill. Imminent death is a reality that additional therapies won’t change.”
Yoder called the language in the bill “offensive.” Fellow State Sen. Andrea Hunley (D-Indianapolis) claimed that most Hoosiers support “medical aid and dying.”
All this was discussed even though it is already state law that assisted suicide, or medical aid in dying, is illegal. Even some Republicans, like State Sen. Vaneta Becker, spoke up to this fact and asked what the point of the discussion was.
Becker voted in favor of the resolution when it came time to vote, as did nearly every Republican in the chamber. All nine Democrats voted against it.
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Republicans Double Down On State Law Banning Assisted SuicideĀ was originally published on wibc.com
