This November, voters in West Virginia will decide the fate of a state constitutional amendment that would prohibit “medically assisted suicide, euthanasia or mercy killing of a person.”

The measure easily passed both the state House and Senate earlier this year and will appear on the Nov. 5 ballot.

One of the sponsors in the state House, Republican Pat McGeehan, explained on Washington Watch Aug. 27 that “The amendment just places what’s already illegal in West Virginia into the state constitution for more security going forward. It’s implicitly illegal in West Virginia, but we want to send a message against this sort of nihilistic euthanasia movement sweeping the western world.”

As examples of euthanasia’s explosive growth, McGeehan cited Canada’s euthanasia program, called Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) which, according to a report released in August, has put assisted suicide in a tie for fifth among leading causes of death in that country. He added that the state of Vermont last year expanded its euthanasia program, making it available to nonresidents as well as residents.

In Oregon, he said, “Portland has essentially grown into a whole marketplace for nonresidents coming in to kill themselves.” He explained that people from out of state can stay at “death hotels” that cater to the practice, wait two weeks, go to a doctor who writes a prescription for a cocktail of poisons, go back to the hotel and take the poison.

“Social workers actually come by the next day and collect all the bodies in these hotels and burn them,” McGeehan said. “We’ve got to push back on this. It’s just part of a broader trend of nihilism that’s sweeping our country with the progressive-liberal order. And I’m sick of it.”

McGeehan said the amendment is needed because, although euthanasia is illegal now in West Virginia, future legislators could decide to make it legal.

“This is the gold standard,” he said. “You need to have it in the state constitution.”

Photo of West Virginia Capitol Building: Adobe Stock