Disability Advocates Oppose City Council’s Proposed Assisted Suicide Resolution

They say that “all politics are local.” While bills to legalize assisted suicide are a state issue, proponents of these dangerous bills are engaging in local politics as well.

An example is the Evanston City Council in Illinois. This is the home district of the lead sponsor in the state legislature. Last Thursday, the local newspaper announced that a proposed City Council resolution favoring the bill would be heard before the Council’s Human Services Committee on Monday, February 3rd. (h/t to Stephen Mendelsohn of Second Thoughts Connecticut for alerting us.)

The disability advocates at Progress Center for Independent Living, including Evanston resident Larry Biondi, showed up to ensure that the disability opposition to the resolution was clearly heard. News coverage of the Committee meeting included a photo of Biondi making the case that assisted suicide laws are bad public policy:

If the legislation were adopted, he said, it would become “the cheapest treatment available in our profit-driven health care system,” and he claimed there would be no real enforcement for the safeguards against abuse contained in the legislation.

Larry Biondi Addresses Evanston Human Services Committee

Unfortunately, the Committee advanced the resolution for consideration by the full City Council, “but three of the four committee members present suggested they might vote against the measure there” according to the news report. The fight will continue.

This is a great example of local disability advocacy against assisted suicide bills. If there’s an assisted suicide bill in your state, please check what your city council is doing. We can’t afford to let proponents slip this under the radar. If you need resource materials, contact Not Dead Yet for handouts, and check out the National Council on Disability report on the dangers posed by these bills.