TO: LWV members and friends:
Your help is urgently needed in telling House members that they have constituents who support this legislation! We would especially like contacts (emails, phone calls or face to face) with the members of the committee listed below but we believe communication with all House members would be useful as they certainly talk to each other—both within and outside of their party caucuses.
Health Chair Joann Hasse recently testified in support of HB 140, sponsored by Representative Paul Baumbach. Rep. Baumbach believed he had enough votes to get the bill released from the House Health and Human Development Committee for a vote by the full House. Unfortunately for those of us who support end of life options for the dying individual, the opponents of the bill flooded the committee members with last minute calls and emailsand there were not enough yes votes to release it for a vote by the full House. When this became apparent, Mr. Baumbach withdrew it from consideration so he could bring it up later. He needs our help in getting the needed votes.
Joann reports that when she gave the League testimony, “it was disheartening to listen to many of those who testified in opposition. Some of the stories were very sad BUT the circumstances they described didn’t fit the circumstances which this bill addresses! They obviously had not read it!”
Our testimony was very brief: “The League of Women Voters of Delaware supports HB 140. This is based on our position that state laws should grant the option for a terminally ill person to request medical assistance from a relevant licensed physician to end one’s life and that such legislation should include safeguards against abuse for the dying and/or medical personnel. We believe this bill fulfills those requirements.”
During consideration of our recently adopted concurrence with the LWV Utah position in all three County Leagues, we had nearly universal approval of the concepts in this position and the bill is even stronger in the safeguards contained in it compared with laws in other states where similar bills have been enacted.
WHAT CAN YOU DO? Please contact members of the Committee, urging them to support the bill.
Health and Human Development Committee members are:
Chair: David Bentz
Vice-Chair: Raymond Seigfried
Members:
Nnamdi O. Chukwuocha, Kendra Johnson, Paul S. Baumbach, Debra Heffernan Melissa Minor-Brown, Ruth Briggs King. Kevin S Hensley, Charles S Postles Jr., Bryan W. Shupe, Michael F. Smith
If you are reading this on your connected computer or other device, you can right click on the member’s name to bring up an option to “open Hyperlink” that will take you to contact information about that legislator. Please email or call as soon as possible to get a commitment. Send any comments you receive to JoannHasse [at] aol.com so she can report back to Rep. Baumbach.
The legislature will be coming back into session June 4 for the last month of this session. Your voice needs to be heard!
