On November 3, 2016, the Aid in Dying for the Terminally Ill Act was released from the NJ Senate Health, Human Service, and Senior Citizen's Committee. It has yet to be scheduled to be voted on.
This bill (S2474) would allow physicians to prescrive drugs to end the lives of individuals considered to be terminally ill. In a letter to our State's senators, the Catholic Bishops of NJ stated their opposition to S2474 because of our "belief in the sanctity of human life from conception to natural death." Among other concerns, the Bishops warned that the bill might lead to the denail of health care in favor of low-cost lethal drugs. "Medical science is called on to eradicate the illnesses from which we suffer, not to eradicate the patients who suffer the illnesses," the letter states.