ALERT! ALERT! ALERT!

Assisted Suicide in California PLEASE ATTEND... a Hearing in Sacramento on Friday, February 4 on a proposal to legalize Assisted Suicide in California **We need these California legislators to see our opposition** California Assemblymembers Patty Berg and Lloyd Levine have announced they will soon introduce a bill to legalize assisted suicide. Ensuring this bill is defeated is a high priority for many disability advocates and disability rights organizations.We hope you can attend a joint hearing of the Assembly Committee on Aging and Long-Term Care and the Assembly Judiciary Committee that will be held on Friday, February 4 in Sacramento. It is important that disability advocates and other opponents of the legalization of assisted suicide come out in force! Also, there will be opportunity for brief public comments - please come AS EARLY AS YOU CAN and sign up AS SOON AS you arrive. State clearly when you speak, that you are opposed. Here is the information on the hearing, and below is other information for those attending. Perspectives on Physician Aid in Dying for the Terminally Ill: Competency Issues Joint Informational Hearing of the Assembly Committee on Aging and Long-Term Care and Assembly Judiciary Committee Friday, February 4th, 2005 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. California State Capitol, Sacramento Room 4202 For more information or a ride to the hearing please contact Ana at FREED (530)272-1732 or ana@freed.org ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Come early to the hearing if possible! The earlier you sign up to offer public comment, the more likely it will be that you actually are able to speak before they must close off comments due to time constraints - at the January 21st hearing, they didn't get to everyone. Remember to state in your public comments that you are opposed to the upcoming bill.This hearing, which follows one in the Los Angeles area on January 21 on disability issues, are informational "show" hearings organized by the upcoming bill's sponsors rather than legislative hearings at which the bill will be discussed among the legislators. But it may get significant news coverage, and we need to be sure that our views are recognized. We will have stickers or other ways to identify people in opposition, so look for those of us distributing that. Below is a listing of the California and national organizations we know of so far that have taken a position opposing the legalization of assisted suicide. Here are URL's for articles and websites if you wish to read up: http://dredf.org/assistedsuicide.html [Marilyn Golden's article on assisted suicide; at DREDF web site] http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/p040201b.html [Commentary by Dr. Herbert Hendin] http://www.pccef.org/articles/art32HouseOfLords.htm [Testimony by Dr. Gregg Hamilton] http://internationaltaskforce.org/orrpt6.htm [International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide's analysis of the first six years of Oregon's assisted suicide law] http://www.geocities.com/dhcpolwnk/pid-dn.htm [Page on assisted suicide at Laura Remson Mitchell's personal web site; includes links to her published commentaries as well as other articles and reports] CALIFORNIA AND NATIONAL DISABILITY ORGANIZATIONS THAT OPPOSE LEGALIZATION OF ASSISTED SUICIDE CALIFORNIA DISABILITY ORGANIZATIONS (including national organizations based in California): ADAPT, Northern California ADAPT, Southern California Berkeley Commission on Disability California Chapter of TASH (CalTASH) California Democrats with Disabilities (CDD) California Disability Alliance (CDA) Californians for Disability Rights (CDR) California Foundation for Independent Living Centers (CFILC) Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF) Disability Rights, Enforcement, Education Services (DREES) Not Dead Yet - California chapter Oakland Mayors Commission on Human Relations The Oaks Group World Institute on Disability (WID)NATIONAL DISABILITY ORGANIZATIONS: American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today (ADAPT) American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) Association of Programs for Rural Independent Living (APRIL) Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF) Justice for All (JFA) National Council on Disability (NCD) National Council on Independent Living (NCIL) National Spinal Cord Injury Association Not Dead Yet (NDY) TASH World Association of Persons with Disabilities (WAPD) World Institute on Disability (WID)Signed,Marilyn Golden, Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF) and California Disability Alliance (CDA)Jan Garrett, Center for Independent Living, BerkeleyRuthanne Shpiner, Not Dead Yet-- Marilyn Goldenmgolden@dredf.orgDisability Rights Education and Defense Fund

For additional information plese contact Ana at FREED (530)272-1732 or ana@freed.org