A Washington attorney who leads an anti-euthanasia organization has filed an amicus (“friend of the court”) brief in Glassman v. Grewal, a New Jersey case brought by a physician who seeks to overturn the NJ Medical Aid in Dying for the Terminally Ill Act. The law went into effect on August 1, 2019, and enables a qualified terminally ill patient to request a medication to end his or her life.

A medical doctor has challenged the law, claiming among other things that the Act violates the fundamental right to defend life. A trial court temporarily suspended the law’s enforcement. The NJ Appellate Division reversed the decision, and the state Supreme Court rejected an appeal for emergent relief. The law remains in effect and the case that challenges it is proceeding through the trial court.

Margaret Dore, the Washington attorney who filed the brief, is also president of Choice is an Illusion, a non-profit corporation that opposes assisted suicide and euthanasia. She argues in her brief that the Act is unconstitutional under New Jersey law because it is misleading. Dore says that while it was intended to be limited only to dying patients, it is not so limited in reality.

READ: HORRIFYING: Canada wants to partner organ harvesting with euthanasia