Press Release

Charlestown, March 3, 2014               For Immediate Release                                             contact: Anne Fox 781-449-1774 An out of state group is trying to buy legislation in Massachusetts!  According to extensive news coverage, the out of state group Compassion and Choices brought 24 people to the State House last week to announce that some of them were hired, some were from out of state, and that they planned to spend a lot of money in the state to pass H - 1998, a new doctor-prescribed suicide bill.  They tried to claim that the public was with them. Just over a year ago, the voters in the state defeated Question 2, which would have legalized doctor-prescribed suicide.  Early polls showed the public favoring the Question, but, as people learned more details, public opinion changed and the Question was defeated.  Polls showed the public was concerned about the fact that there was no counseling for depressed people, that doctors say a six months prognosis is often wrong, and that there could be pressure from insurance.  The Mass. Medical Society and Hospice opposed the Question. The new bill, H - 1998 has the same dangers as Question 2 and has added these: a person can request the lethal dose, get the prescription, and take the dose all in one day and a doctor who does not want to prescribe a lethal dose is required to find someone who will, thus being forced by law to be complicit. According to Anne Fox, President of Massachusetts Citizens for Life, "The voters of Massachusetts have spoken.  When they know what is involved in doctor-prescribed suicide laws, they reject such laws.  We resent out of state money trying to pull strings in our state"