West Virginia Amendment 1: Prohibit "Medically-Assisted Suicide, Euthanasia, and Mercy Killing" Measure (2024)

In 2024, voters in West Virginia will be able to vote on changing the constitution in their state. The state constitution is a set of laws that say what the government can and cannot do. A change in the constitution is called an amendment. The constitution will change if enough people vote for the amendment.

  • West Virginia “Amendment 1: Prohibit ‘Medically-Assisted Suicide, Euthanasia, and Mercy Killing’ Measure” is about not allowing doctors or healthcare providers to help someone end their life. If it passes:

    • This amendment would make it so people in West Virginia do not have the option for “assisted suicide.”

      • “Assisted suicide” are terms used for when a very sick person or their guardian chooses to have a healthcare provider use medicine to end the person’s life.

        • Many disabled people have their right to make decisions taken away, whether through guardianship, conservatorship, or otherwise.

    • The goal of this amendment is to make sure “assisted suicide” is not legal in West Virginia.

    • This amendment would not change any laws around the death penalty. Using the death penalty on people in prison is already illegal in West Virginia.

      Voting “yes” for this amendment means you want it to become law.

      Voting “no” for this amendment means you do NOT want it to become law.

West Virginia Amendment 1 Original Text

Additional Context & Our Stance:

This change would prevent laws that allow people to die by euthanasia. Euthanasia means intentionally ending someone’s life because someone thinks the person is suffering. This change would mean that no laws can be made for West Virginia that would allow assisted suicide. Many disabled people have their rights to make decisions taken away. This amendments protects disabled people from other people deciding if disabled people live or die. Many people make decisions about the lives of disabled people and whether our lives are worth living. Our lives ARE worth living.

Disabled voters and those who care about us should vote YES to West Virginia Amendment 1: “Prohibit ‘Medically-Assisted Suicide, Euthanasia, and Mercy Killing’ Measure.”

Voting YES means you want to change the West Virginia constitution so that doctors or healthcare providers can NOT help someone end their life.