SACRAMENTO — A "death with dignity" bill died quietly in the California Legislature on Monday, with proponents still struggling against steady religious and cultural currents.
Although popular opinion in the state is said to favor the sanctioning of doctor-assisted suicide, two Democratic lawmakers announced that they would -- for this year -- abandon their efforts to push through a law.
"A lot of people understand the issue; a lot of people don't," said Assembly member Patty Berg of Eureka. "For the ones that don't, you need time to explain it, to walk them through it."
The bill would have allowed terminally ill people to get a lethal prescription to hasten their deaths. Polls show a solid majority of Californians favor such a law, but Berg and Assemblyman Lloyd Levine of Van Nuys could not muster enough votes in the face of strong opposition from the Catholic Church and disabled activists.
The Death With Dignity Act cleared two committees but was never brought up for a vote on the Assembly floor. Levine said 33 of the 80 lawmakers had committed to vote for the bill -- short of the necessary 41.
He said some lawmakers told him that they opposed the bill for religious reasons, including two Catholics who had promised their bishops that they would not vote for it.
The Catholic Church teaches that life is sacred from conception to natural death, and the California Catholic Conference lobbied hard against the bill.
So did the California League of United Latin American Citizens, which argued that doctor-assisted suicide is incompatible with Latino values, and the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, which argued that such a law would encourage suicide among the depressed, poor and newly disabled.
Berg, herself a Catholic, said she would persist because most Californians, regardless of religious or political affiliation, support the right of incurably sick people to get a doctor's help in ending their lives. A Field poll in February found that 70% of Californians support the idea, and 68% would want the option for themselves.
"I think that something that's supported by 70% just can't be stopped forever," said Berg, adding that she would resubmit the bill in January.
Opponents of the legislation questioned the popularity of the idea and vowed to continue working to defeat it.
