After years of focused effort, the New Mexico State Senate approved a medical aid-in-dying bill by a vote of 24 to 17. The Elizabeth Whitefield End-of-Life Options Act (HB 47), as amended on the Senate floor, will be sent back to the House for agreement in the coming days. Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham is expected to sign it into law, and New Mexico will become the 11th U.S. jurisdiction to allow medical aid in dying as an option for terminally ill, mentally capable adults.

“We thank the New Mexico State Senate for listening to the voices of terminally ill New Mexicans and passing the Elizabeth Whitefield End of Life Options Act,” said Kim Callinan, president and CEO of both Compassion & Choices and Compassion & Choices Action Network, who worked closely with New Mexico End of Life Options Coalition to finally achieve this milestone. “The COVID-19 pandemic has emphasized the importance of a peaceful death. We are one step closer to providing terminally ill New Mexicans with the option of dying peacefully without intolerable suffering.”

“Today is monumental,” said Judge Whitefield’s husband of 33 years, Paul Thorne. “Throughout her life and illness, Elizabeth lived with grace, courage, strength, and was always positive. Her last wish was to see the passage of this bill that now bears her name; I am grateful to our New Mexico lawmakers.”

“Members of the Senate courageously acted on behalf of New Mexicans today,” said Elizabeth Armijo, national advocacy director for Compassion & Choices Action Network. “Terminally ill patients should have the ability to decide what is right for them with their doctor, their family and other loved ones. Today we celebrate the culmination of decades of advocacy for and by terminally ill New Mexicans.”

We are also celebrating another legislative victory this month: The 2021 “Physician Imprisonment Act” failed yet again to advance in the Montana Senate. Every legislative session since the 2009 Supreme Court ruling that authorized medical aid in dying in the state, lawmakers have introduced bills designed to strip this option from their terminally ill constituents by criminalizing doctors who participate in the practice. While the battle is certain to arise again, it is a relief to have defeated this most recent attack.

“This vote is a victory for terminally ill Montanans and the doctors who provide their patients with the option of a peaceful death,” said Kim Callinan. “We thank the Senate for recognizing that patients, in consultation with their doctors and loved ones, should make the decision about end-of-life care, and not lawmakers.”

Compassion & Choices is comprised of two organizations that improve care and expand options at life’s end: Compassion & Choices (501(c)(3)) educates, empowers, defends and advocates; the Compassion & Choices Action Network (501(c)(4)) focuses exclusively on legislation, ballot campaigns, and limited electoral work.

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