The Honorable Elijah E. Cummings and the Honorable Shane E. Pendergrass End-of-Life Option Act (SB0926/HB1328), which would authorize medical aid in dying in Maryland, was introduced in the Senate on February 4, 2025, by Senator William C. Smith. Just a few days later, on February 7, the companion bill was co-filed in the House with the support of 49 sponsors.
On March 3, the House bill (HB1328) received a hearing in the Health and Government Operations Committee, demonstrating growing legislative interest and engagement on this compassionate option. Unfortunately, the Senate continues to be a hurdle and chose not to advance the bill this session. As Senate Judicial Proceedings Chair Will Smith stated, “The votes aren’t there — not in committee and not on the floor.”
While this is disappointing, our Maryland team is committed to continuing a statewide education and outreach campaign aimed at deepening public understanding and building the support needed to pass this vital legislation in the future.
Maryland lawmakers need to hear from you today! Use our quick form to email them and share your support for end-of-life autonomy.
Maryland Congressman Elijah Cummings (7th Dist./Baltimore), the first African American to be named Speaker Pro Tem in the Maryland House of Delegates, today endorsed the Maryland medical aid-in-dying legislation during a bill before the Joint Committee on Health and Government Operations and House of Delegates Judiciary Committee. The bill, the End of Life Option Act…
Four years after the original introduction of a medical aid-in-dying bill in Maryland in 2015, Compassion & Choices and 100 of its Maryland volunteers today met with state lawmakers to tell them the time to pass the legislation is now after its reintroduction today with 60 cosponsors. The bill, the End of Life Option Act…
Compassion & Choices today brought 165 of its Maryland supporters to meet with their state legislators in Annapolis to urge them to pass the “Richard E. Israel and Roger ‘Pip’ Moyer End of Life Options Act.” The legislation would give mentally capable, terminally ill adults with six months or fewer to live the option to…
Compassion & Choices today brought 165 of its Maryland supporters to meet with their state legislators in Annapolis to urge them to pass the “Richard E. Israel and Roger ‘Pip’ Moyer End of Life Options Act.” The legislation would give mentally capable, terminally ill adults with six months or fewer to live the option to…
The following article appeared in the Washington Times on February 21, 2016: Kelly Lange suffers from stage 4 breast cancer and says she doesn’t want to die. But when the time comes, she wants it to be on her own terms. She was one of 76 witnesses who came to Annapolis to plead with lawmakers…
Former mental health counselor and longtime believer in end-of-life autonomy Ellen Dinerman first heard about Compassion & Choices through a woman in her book group three years ago. “She was a widow, social worker who had done the same kind of work I had done and a metastatic breast cancer survivor,” explains Ellen. “She decided…
“I never had much of an occasion to think about end-of-life issues or even healthcare issues,” says Maryland volunteer Alan Eason, of his 30-year tenure with the Maryland Attorney General’s office. That changed after retirement, however, when he started auditing healthcare law courses at his alma mater, the University of Maryland School of Law. “One…
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