Please see the following action alert from our friends at Rhode Island Right to Life, and please help spread the word:

Assisted Suicide Hearing Wed., March 23, Rhode Island State House Room 101

House Bill Number 2016–H7659 — sponsored by Representatives Ajello, Carson, Hearn, Tanzi, and Regunberg — which seeks to legalize Assisted Suicide in Rhode Island, will be heard on Wednesday, March 23, before the House Committee on Health, Education, and Welfare.

The hearing will be held in Room 101 at the “Rise of the House” — approximately 5 pm, and is expected to last late into the evening as there are many bills on the agenda.

National proponents of Assisted Suicide, flush with cash and emboldened by their recent victory in California, continue probing various states to determine where next to focus their formidable resources. While we do not expect the bill to proceed to a floor vote this year, it is very important to make a clear and loud statement that Rhode Island strongly opposes Assisted Suicide.

Assisted Suicide is bad medicine, and bad public policy that puts vulnerable populations at risk. It is a recipe for abuse of the elderly and disabled. The concern of the State of Rhode Island should be to improve access to legitimate care for all Rhode Islanders, especially those who are most vulnerable.

After responding to this Action Alert, please share it with your friends, and please consider attending the hearing if you are able. For further information, feel free to contact us at (401) 521-1860 or at bebracy@rirtl.org.

Assisted suicide bills have, so far this year, been defeated in 10 states: Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Iowa, Maryland, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, Utah, and Wisconsin. Scott Fischbach of Minnesotans Against Assisted Suicide and Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life gave us this very nice shout-out:
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According to the suicide lobby, “you will hear a lot of gloating from our opponents” — as frank an admission as we’re likely to get that they are losing. Let’s help add Rhode Island to the “gloat list” and kill the assisted suicide bill.
Ironically, there is also a Right to Try bill — similar to the one we support, which is making its way through our own legislature now — on the same agenda tomorrow.  Recall that when the Right to Try bill was considered last year, the former Hemlock Society, supposedly all in favor of a broad array of choices, was absent. As we wrote:
We cannot emphasize enough: C&C is a single-issue, special interest group that has done basically squat for the state of Connecticut in the last three years. Asked about our cutting-edge MOLST pilot program, a spokesman could do nothing but redirect the topic. C&C was nowhere to be found on the Right to Try. Their record player is stuck on one tune — assisted suicide.
Will our neighbors grant terminally ill citizens a choice for life, or only death? The answer to that question may depend on every effort we make this week.