Baltimore, Md., Jun 26, 2024 / 15:50 pm
The Delaware state Senate passed a bill on Tuesday that would legalize assisted suicide. The upper legislative chamber of President Joe Biden’s home state approved the proposed law by the narrowest of margins — 11 to 10.
The narrow passage of H.B. 140 came less than a week after the state Senate initially rejected it. Delaware’s state House passed the bill on April 18.
Despite the Delaware Legislature’s approval of the bill, it faces a possible veto from Gov. John Carney. The incumbent Democrat voiced his opposition to assisted suicide in 2022, according to an April 19 article by The Dialog, the official newspaper of the Diocese of Wilmington: “I believe enabling physicians to facilitate suicide crosses a boundary that I’m just not comfortable crossing.”
Bishop William Koenig of Wilmington decried the bill during the lead-up to the first vote: “We’re not the ones that end life. We’re not the ones that decide when it’s time to end our lives. ... Whether it’s a young person that is taking their life, a middle-aged person, or an older person, it’s wrong for society to say this is something we condone.”