The disability community turned out in force to oppose an assisted suicide bill currently pending in the District of Columbia, and our help is still needed. The DC Council’s Health and Human Services Committee held a hearing on the bill (B21-38) on July 10th, and NDY’s Board Chair, Anne Sommers, delivered powerful testimony.
Her full written testimony on behalf of NDY is also available here.
The hearing is archived, but the total time of the online video is 15 hours, so Lindsay Baran of the National Council on Independent Living provided the following time markers for the awesome disability advocates who testified.
Mollie Greenberg (NCIL): 1:43:40
Samantha Crane (ASAN & also an NDY Board Officer): 3:17:25
Lindsay Baran (NCIL): 3:21:40
Georges Aguehounde (DCCIL): 4:27:25
Anne Sommers (NDY): 6:00:50
Shira Wakschlag (The Arc): 6:39:20
Maureen Hollowell (DREDF): 7:07:35
If you would like to submit written testimony or a letter opposing B21-38 “Death with Dignity Act” to the Health and Human Services Committee, the deadline is this Friday, July 24th. Written testimony can be of any length. You should address your testimony or letter to:
Committee on Health and Human Services
Attn: Malcolm Cameron
John A. Wilson Building
1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Room 115
Washington, DC 20004
To deliver it, you can either email it to the committee staffer mcameron@dccouncil.us or mail it to the address above.
It is also possible that the Judiciary Committee may submit a comment on the bill to the HHS Committee sometime in the near future. Anyone whose testimony focuses more on the “legal” aspects of the bill could also submit written comment to the Judiciary Committee. Written testimony to the DC Council Judiciary Committee should be addressed to: Committee on the Judiciary, Council Member Kenyan McDuffie, Chairman, and it can be emailed to the Judiciary Committee’s Legislative Counsel, Shawn Hilgendorf at shilgendorf@dccouncil.us.