In the 2024 state legislative session, ABE succeeded in enlisting the support of Senator Catherine Blakespear to introduce Senate Bill 1196. This bill incorporated most of ABE’s legislative goals. In spite of our success in rallying many groups in the state working with individuals who would benefit from our proposed legislation, the bill died in the Senate Health Committee.
Hoping for greater success in the 2025 legislative session, Senator Blakespear recently brought together a Working Group of various stakeholders around this issue. Included in the Working Group were representatives from ABE, The California Medical Association, The California Hospital Association, The Alzheimer’s Association, Compassion and Choices, and the ALS Association.
In addition to participation in the above mentioned Working Group, ABE continues our outreach work to numerous members of the state legislature, with a specific goal of identifying other legislators with courage enough to address the rights of hundreds of thousands of Californians with debilitating, incurable diseases who deserve the option of a peaceful and painless death.
A recent report based on research done by End of Life Choices California found that only 25% of Californians are aware that we have a law allowing medical aid in dying (MAID). We also know that even fewer are aware of the specifics of the law. So, A Better Exit has turned much of our attention to arranging talks in person or via Zoom to spread the word about MAID— what it involves, who can and cannot access MAID under the current law, and the ways we would like to see our End of Life Option Act modified to allow more suffering Californians the option to choose a peaceful death. If you know of organizations or retirement communities that might be interested in a presentation or have a connection to a media outlet that might be willing to work with us to publicize our effort, please email us at contact@abetterexit.org.
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