Congress threatens states’ death with dignity laws

California’s End of Life Option Act and six similar laws nationwide that authorize medical aid in dying as an option to peacefully end unbearable suffering for terminally ill adults face a looming threat from Congress.

These laws give mentally capable adults with six months or fewer to live the option to request prescription medication from their doctor that they could decide to take to end intolerable suffering and die peacefully in their sleep.

Earlier this month, the House Appropriations Committee, including California Reps. David Valadao (Hanford) and Rep. Ken Calvert (Corona), approved an amendment to repeal the District of Columbia’s Death with Dignity law.

If this outrageous power grab succeeds, it could inspire opponents of medical aid in dying to seek a nationwide ban. They have tried to accomplish this twice in the past by prohibiting physicians from prescribing medication subject to the Controlled Substances Act for medical aid in dying in both the Lethal Drug Abuse Prevention Act of 1998 and the Pain Relief Promotion Act of 1999.

In addition to California and the District of Columbia, five other states authorize this option: Colorado, Montana, Oregon, Washington and Vermont. Collectively, they represent 18 percent of the nation’s population and have 40 years of collective experience with these laws with no evidence of misuse.

Thankfully, Rep. Kevin McCarthy, who lives in Bakersfield as I do, has the power as the House Majority Leader to snuff out this threat by insisting on stripping this amendment from the final House Appropriations bill that funds the federal government.

In addition, Senators Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris should block any similar amendment from being attached to the Senate Appropriations bill.

Both national and state polls show strong support for medical aid in dying across the ethnic, political and religious spectrums, including 72 percent of Hispanics in California, who represent 35.5 percent of McCarthy’s district.

My mother died in agony from breast cancer, so I know first-hand about the desperate need for medical aid-in-dying laws.

That’s why I spent long hours in California working to pass the state’s End of Life Option Act that took effect last summer. One year later, data compiled by the California Department of Health and Compassion & Choices show the law is working as intended, giving terminally ill adults the option to die peacefully when no other palliative care option can relieve their suffering.

I have spent my life fighting to empower workers, women and disenfranchised communities. I support medical aid-in-dying laws because they have strict safeguards to protect vulnerable people from abuse and coercion, while honoring the fundamental human right to decide how and when we die, when death is inevitable. All Americans should have the option to decide the end-of-life care that is right for them, in consultation with their loved ones and their doctor.

For members of Congress who would never use this option themselves — I urge them to honor the equally valid beliefs of other dying people and of those of us who have watched loved ones suffer needlessly painful deaths.

My lifelong work for social justice has taught me that difficult moments require our utmost compassion, respect for the wishes of others and the wisdom to imagine walking in another person’s shoes.

Congressman McCarthy and I disagree on many issues. But I hope and pray that he and his colleagues remember that how we die is an intensely personal, private family issue, not a political one. Their constituents are counting on them to strip this amendment that will only prolong an agonizing death for terminally ill adults and their families.

Dolores Huerta is a civil rights activist, president of the Dolores Huerta Foundation and cofounder of the United Farm Workers Union. She wrote this for The Mercury News.