Mayor Muriel Bowser speaks at a rally in February urging Congress to keep its hands off D.C. law, ahead of a FEbruary hearing to block the Death with Dignity Act. (Photo by Lorie Shaull)

Less than a week after a House committee voted to insert a budget rider that would repeal D.C.’s Death With Dignity Act, Mayor Muriel Bowser announced that the law is being fully implemented as of July 17.

The legislation, which the D.C. Council passed on an 11-2 vote in November, allows physicians to prescribe life-ending drugs to terminally ill patients under a set of strict rules. Oregon, Vermont, Washington, Colorado, and California all have similar laws in place; in Montana, the state Supreme Court has ruled the practice isn’t prohibited by current law.

D.C., however, is subject to the whims of Congress, which has already seen one unsuccessful attempt to block the law.

Republican congressmen attempted to do so through a disapproval resolution during the mandatory 30-day review period for all District legislation. It sparked an outcry from Washingtonians and their elected leaders, who demanded that Congress keep its “hands off D.C.” The disapproval resolution didn’t make it beyond a House committee and the Death with Dignity Act officially became law on February 17.

But those same Republicans promised to use the appropriations process to repeal the law, which they made good on last week.

“We have the absolute ability to judge anything that the District of Columbia does that is bad, bad policy,” Rep. Andy Harris, who was elected to represent Maryland’s Eastern Shore, said in introducing such an amendment to the 2018 federal appropriations bill. “There’s nothing dignified about suicide, ever, in my belief.” The measure must pass both the full House and Senate and be signed by the president to block the legislation.

In the meantime, the city has pushed up implementation of the law, which was originally slated for the fall. The mayor’s office did not respond to requests for comment about the decision or its plans in the event that the law is successfully repealed.

“Mayor Bowser is well within the law and her rights to take necessary steps to implement the city’s local medical aid-in-dying law despite attempts by Members of Congress to undemocratically interfere with our jurisdiction’s purely local law,” said Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton in a statement, pledging to continue leading a fight against Congressional attempts to repeal the Death with Dignity Act.

The D.C. Department of Health is overseeing its implementation. To request life-ending medication, patients must be 18 years or older and expected to live for no longer than six months. Patients must make one written and two oral requests; two people, one of whom cannot be relative, must witness them. A doctor must also determine that the patient’s judgement is not compromised by depression or other mental health issues.

The advocacy group Compassion & Choices launched a campaign in English and Spanish today to educate terminally ill D.C. residents about their new rights.

“I cannot tell you how relieved I am that Mayor Bowser is promptly implementing this law,” said Mary Klein, a D.C. resident who has terminal ovarian cancer, in a statement. “I do not know if I will use this option, but knowing I have it gives me an enormous sense of relief.”

A spokeswoman for Harris told The Washington Post that it wouldn’t last: “The congressman’s amendment repeals the law, so while D.C. could implement the Death With Dignity Act, it would be repealed once the appropriations process is complete and the bills are passed.”

Previously:
House Committee Revives Fight Against D.C.’s Death With Dignity Law
Fight Over D.C.’s Death With Dignity Law Finds New Life In Trump’s Budget
D.C.’s Death With Dignity Law Survives Republican Attacks For Now
As House GOP Tries To Block District Bill Sans D.C. Input, Our Elected Leaders Head To The Hill
As Promised, Republicans On Capitol Hill Submit Resolutions To Block D.C. Death With Dignity Act
Utahn Pledges To Block D.C.’s ‘Death With Dignity’ Law
D.C. Council Passes Right-To-Die Bill