Delaware governor: Signing assisted suicide law was ‘right thing to do’

Delaware Governor Matt Meyer signed legislation Monday approving assisted suicide — making the state the 11th in the nation to do so.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• After nearly a decade of failed attempts, Delaware’s lawmakers and governor have made the approval of assisted killing a reality in the state.

• The law, set to take effect January 1, 2026, allows “terminally” ill individuals diagnosed with under six months to life access to life-ending drugs, which can be prescribed by physicians and advanced practice RNs.

• National Right to Life’s president says the law “devalu[es] the lives of the disabled, elderly and chronically ill.”

THE DETAILS:

House Bill 140 allows a person who has been diagnosed as “terminally” ill with a diagnosis of less than six months to live to qualify for drugs that would end his or her life. Both physicians and advanced practice registered nurses would be permitted to diagnose and approve a patient for assisted death.

The bill passed both the House and the Senate earlier this year. Just last year, similar legislation made it to the desk of then-Governor John Carney, who vetoed the bill because he said he was “fundamentally opposed” to assisted suicide.

Unlike Carney, Meyer appeared enthusiastic at the bill’s passage.

“This signing today is about relieving suffering and giving families the comfort of knowing that their loved one was able to pass on their own terms without unnecessary pain and surrounded by the people they love the most,” claimed Meyer. “For many of you — many more than me — this has been a long journey. For nearly a decade this idea has been debated and delayed, but always defended by those of you who believed deeply that it was the right thing to do, and it’s because of you that we’re here today and because of that courage I will be signing that bill.”

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THE OTHER SIDE:

Others, however, are speaking out against the legislation, with one organization calling it “tragic.”

“The horror of assisted suicide is that many of the most vulnerable in our society are pressured to ‘choose’ assisted suicide which normalizes a culture of death — devaluing the lives of the disabled, elderly and chronically ill,” said National Right to Life president Carol Tobias in a statement.

“As society attitudes shift, legalization creates a ‘duty to die’ mindset and puts our most vulnerable members of society at risk,” she added. “Assisted suicide laws offer no compassion, no hope, and no help for vulnerable members of our society.”

THE BOTTOM LINE: 

With the passage, Delaware becomes the 11th state to legalize assisted suicide — joining California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont and Washington, as well as Washington, D.C.. The new law is expected to take effect January 1, 2026.