California has taken a step towards legalising assisted suicide after passing a Bill overnight which allows doctors help terminally ill patients end their life.
It passed by 23 votes to 14.
Now, the Bill will be sent to State Governer, Jerry Brown for final approval who needs to sign it to be enacted into law.
The former Jesuit seminarian has not yet hinted at how he will sign and it is unclear if he will do so.
Oregon, Washington, Vermont and Montana already have similar right-to-die laws on the books.
The bill is intended only for people with six months or less to live.
Similar bills have failed in the state legislature before, but proponents of right-to-die laws rallied support last year when 29-year-old Brittany Maynard, who suffered from incurable brain cancer, moved to Oregon to end her life via legal assisted suicide.
More than half the states, plus Washington, D.C., have put forward bills this year to legalize some kind of assisted suicide. So far, none have become law.
The New York Times says the bill is modeled on the law in Oregon with these changes:
- The California law would expire after 10 years and have to be re-approved
- Doctors would have to consult in private with the patient desiring to die - as part of an effort to ensure that no one would be coerced to end his or her life.
Opponents of the law fear people could potentially be coerced into ending their own lives should assisted suicide become available.
