SACRAMENTO (CN) - Contentious legislation giving terminally ill patients access to lethal medication was advanced by California lawmakers Friday and awaits an uncertain fate from Gov. Jerry Brown.
The state senate voted 23-14 in favor of the End of Life Option Act during a special session hearing. California will become the fifth state with laws or court orders allowing doctors to prescribe lethal medication to patients.
The bill's co-author Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson, D-Santa Barbara, who has led previous attempts on similar failed legislation, dedicated her efforts to her mother.
"We are here today on the precipice of granting a wish I was not able to give my mother," Jackson said.
Brown, a former Catholic seminarian, has not issued his opinion on the legislation but his office questioned the validity of its inclusion in the special session on health care last week.
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