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The Assembly Appropriations Committee Thursday approved the "Aid in Dying" bill that would allow doctors to write a prescription for lethal for patients with a terminal illness. The bill is sponsored by committee chairman drugs John J. Burzichelli (D-Gloucester), seen in this file photo. (Ed Murray | The Star-Ledger)

(Ed Murray/The Star-Ledger)

TRENTON -- An Assembly panel Thursday voted to make New Jersey the sixth state in the country to allow terminally ill patients to obtain a prescription from a doctor to take their own lives.

But the "Aid in Dying" bill still has a long way to go in order for it to become law. Gov. Chris Christie has said he would veto the bill if it ever landed on his desk. And the same measure didn't pass in the last legislative session after disability rights and religious groups offered emotional testimony about the ethical issues the bill raises.

Assemblyman John Burzichelli (D-Gloucester), the prime sponsor, described the Statehouse hearing as part of a continuing conversation.

"This discussion is about revisiting a statute last looked at in 1978 that never took into account an individual's right to control their body and their circumstances," Burzichelli said after the 8-2 vote by the Assembly Appropriations Committee, which he chairs.

"Like society, medicine, palliative care and hospice services have changed dramatically since then. While there are many choices available right now that may be right for certain people, there is one more choice, not currently available, that deserves an honest discussion," he said.

William White of the Knights of Columbus New Jersey Council urged the committee to reject the bill because it promotes the "morally evil" act of suicide.

"Our organization believes in the sanctity of all human life, from conception to natural death," White said. "The arguments for assisted suicide all boil down to one thing: the person is hurting. Therefore nobody should hurt. Palliative care and hospice are addressing those things."

The bill (A2451) would allow patients with a terminal illness to request a prescription from their attending physician that they will take to end their lives. A terminal illness is defined as "an irreversibly fatal illness, disease, or condition with prognosis, based upon reasonable medical certainty, of a life expectancy of six months or less."

Patients would have to make the request of their doctors in writing and twice in person, with 15 days in between the first and second oral request. The physician would have to give the patient a chance to rescind the request, and a consulting physician would be asked to certify the diagnosis and reaffirm the patient is capable of making the decision.

Opponents argued these safeguards do not go far enough to protect people with disabilities, or guard against the mislabeling of people as terminally ill when they are not. They said having a law on the books like this may make critically ill patients feel compelled to end their lives so they are not a burden on their families.

Being "dependent on others does not make (them) less human, but it makes more vulnerable. This vulnerability will be exploited by this bill," Kate Blisard said of Not Dead Yet, an advocacy group for disabled people.

Burzichelli disagreed, stressing that people with disabilities would not treated differently than anyone else.

Numerous Jewish and Catholic leaders testified against the bill because they said it would undermine the sanctity of life. Chuck O'Neil of the Unitarian Universalist Church in Cherry Hill offered a different viewpoint.

"Not everybody agrees with the religious beliefs of the Jewish people and the Catholic people. If this bill is not passed based on their religious beliefs, it denies ours," O'Neil said.

California, Montana, Oregon, Washington and Vermont have aid in dying laws.

An earlier version of this story misidentified William White as a priest. NJ Advance Media Staff Writer Samantha Marcus contributed to this story. Susan K. Livio may be reached at slivio@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @SusanKLivio. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.