Momentum Builds in Maryland

Compassion & Choices and our supporters are keeping up the pressure to pass the End of Life Option Act.

Feb 21, 2020

On January 28, 185 Marylanders stormed Annapolis and made a splash. Their message? THE TIME IS NOW to pass the Maryland End of Life Option Act. Supporters from Prince George’s County to Baltimore took to the offices of the House and Senate, and implored their legislators to pass this bill in 2020. Many supporters shared their personal stories of witnessing the death of a loved one or their desire to have options at the end of life, cementing the urgency of passing this bill. There is no time to wait when people are dying every year without this option.

Donna Smith, Compassion & Choices Maryland campaign manager, has been campaigning for the Pip Moyer End of Life Option Act since 2015, but she says this year is different, “We’ve never seen the kind of support and momentum for passage of this bill in Maryland.” She continued, “I’m so thankful for our legislative champions and steadfast supporters for making this day a success.” 

On February 12, a diverse group of faith leaders gathered in Annapolis to show their support for the End of Life Option Act. This included leaders in the Unitarian Universalist, United Church of Christ, Baptist, Jewish and Humanist faith traditions. They held a press conference and a roundtable discussion about end-of-life options and their faith practices. Reverend Joseph Kitchen, a baptist minister, said, “Sadly in far too many of our churches, we are being given a version of a vengeful, repressive God. I don’t know that God. My God is loving. My God is kind. My God is compassionate. My God is freeing. My God is liberating.”

This was only the beginning of the hard work needed in Maryland to give terminally ill people this option at the end of life. Visit our Maryland page to write your legislators today.