Vermont Becomes First State to Open Assisted Suicide to Out-of-Staters
Vermont removed its residency requirement for assisted suicide on Tuesday, officially opening the door for any American to travel to the state to end their life.
Nine other states allow the practice of assisted suicide, but Vermont is the first to actively change its law to strip the residency requirement. Oregon, which also allows assisted suicide, agreed to stop enforcing its residency requirement as part of a settlement to a lawsuit that alleged the requirement is unconstitutional. Advocates of assisted suicide thought it discriminatory.
Vermont had a similar process to Oregon’s. In March, before the Vermont legislature and Republican governor Phil Scott acted in concert to change the law, the state had come to a settlement with a Connecticut woman dying of cancer. She would be the first non-Vermonter to be able to take advantage of Vermont’s assisted suicide law provided she complied with other aspects of the law.
“I was so relieved to hear of the settlement of my case that will allow me to decide when cancer has taken all from me that I can bear,” said Linda Bluestein, 75, to the Associated Press. Bluestein is dying of fallopian tube cancer.
Critics have dubbed the practice of allowing non-residents to end their lives suicide, or death, tourism. Carolyn McDonnell, litigation counsel for Americans United for Life, argued in a Newsweek op-ed that the repercussions of these laws may be disastrous further down the road.
“Since the decriminalization of assisted suicide increases the rates of non-assisted suicide, suicide tourism will undercut national suicide prevention policies,” explained McDonnell, adding that she expects medical professionals will have limited ability to conscientiously object to participating in assisted suicide in the future and death on demand will ultimately be promoted for vulnerable patients.
“Assisted suicide is ageist, ableist, and an attack on human dignity. Society must push back against the assisted suicide lobby’s goal of death on demand, which is rife with abuse and discrimination. We owe everyone suicide prevention, not abandonment,” McDonnell wrote.
Kim Callinan, president and CEO of Compassion & Choices, a pro-assisted suicide organization, argued in a statement that border shouldn’t determine whether you die peacefully or in agony.
“Patients routinely travel to other states to utilize the best healthcare options. There is no rational reason they shouldn’t be able to travel to another state to access medical aid in dying if the state they live in doesn’t offer it,” Callinan explained.
Bluestein, the woman dying from cancer, said she expects more individuals in the Northeast will be able to take advantage of the law.
“I’m thinking even more importantly that this is going to cause other states, the other jurisdictions that have medical aid in dying, to look at their residency requirement, too,” Bluestein explained.
