SACRAMENTO, California April 8, 2021 — The Libertarian Party of California has notified Senator Umberg, Chair of the Senate Committee on Judiciary that they endorse Senate Bill 380, which would keep and improve California’s End of Life Option Act.

Senate Bill 380 would end the sunset clause of the current law titled: End of Life Option Act, which became effective on June 9, 2016, and would make the law permanent. Currently, should the End of Life Option Act lapse, California citizens, who are terminally-ill, would lose their legal right to have the option to use medical aid in dying, if that is their personal decision in order to end their pain and suffering at the end of life.

Since the End of Life Option Act took effect nearly 2,000 mentally capable, terminally-ill Californians with six months or less to live have exercised their legally available option to receive a prescription for medical aid-in-dying medication to peacefully end their unbearable suffering. Based on the California Department of Health “California End of Life Option Act 2019 Report,” the California End of Life Option Act has worked as intended, without a single incident of coercion or abuse.

The Libertarian Party of California’s current platform on Health and Medicine states: “The health and physical well-being of individuals should be matters of personal choice and responsibility. The State should not be involved in the regulation of medical care or in the delivery of health care. An individual should have the right to choose among any available health practices. Similarly, he or she has the right to refuse, accept or modify treatment or other care.”

“The National Libertarian Party’s platform has long included the right of individuals to make their own healthcare decisions including end-of-life decisions. We are urging the Senate to approve this act to allow individuals, with the guidance of medical professionals to make this very difficult decision,” said Mimi Robson, Chair of the Libertarian Party of California.

The Libertarian Party of California recognizes the seriousness of the medical issue regarding the choice terminally-ill patients must make when weighing the option to exercise end of life options, but it is the individual’s right to consider what is best for their own quality of life and the wellbeing of their loved ones.