This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Assisted suicide, that so-called "Medical Aid in Dying" agenda that has been surging around the world, is just one step away from euthanasia, the deliberate destruction of those who don't necessarily want to die.
MAID has claimed tens of thousands of lives in recent years, including massive numbers in Canada, which has radical policies allowing people to ask to be put to death for a wide range of reasons including fear of homelessness. There, in fact, medical officials have refused people treatment, then suggested they allow themselves to be killed.
In America, the agenda is growing, with multiple states now endorsing the idea, including prominently leftist states like Oregon, California and Colorado.
But now there's a move to put the brakes on.
A report in the Washington Stand explains that life advocates in West Virginia are working on a ballot initiative that would keep the practice illegal.
The report explains the state's Amendment 1 is on this November's ballot, in order to provide "protection against medically assisted suicide."
Pat McGeehan, a state delegate, recently told an episode of "Washington Watch" that its intention is to place in the state constitution what already is law there.
"If this amendment is passed, West Virginia would become the first state to amend their constitution to prohibit assisted suicide," the report said.
The actual language in the plan states: "No person, physician, or health care provider in the State of West Virginia shall participate in the practice of medically assisted suicide, euthanasia, or mercy killing of a person. Nothing in this section prohibits the administration or prescription of medication for the purpose of alleviating pain or discomfort while the patient's condition follows its natural course; nor does anything in this section prohibit the withholding or withdrawing of life-sustaining treatment, as requested by the patient or the patient's decision-maker, in accordance with State law. Further, nothing in this section prevents the State from providing capital punishment."
McGeehan explained the goal is to "send a message" that the state opposes "this sort of nihilistic euthanasia movement sweeping the Western world."
It's his goal for West Virginia to become the "gold standard" against euthanasia.
He said while Canada is a leader in the industry, America is turning to "sort of euthanasia tourism" where people travel to states that allow it.
He explained, "They give you a cocktail of poisons," and then "you go back by yourself into one of these hotels [and] swallow the cocktail poison, it destroys your organs," and then "social workers actually come by the next day [to] collect all the bodies in these hotels and burn them."
He explained that putting it in a state constitution prevents future political leaders from arbitrarily reversing a law that now bans it.
""[Y]ou never know who's going to be in office next." It could be that in years to come, "It might not be guys that are pro-life on the Republican side,'" the report explained.
Further, he said if "consent" is all that's required, "all it takes is for a doctor to suggest euthanasia to 'vulnerable patients' to blur the lines between choices made voluntarily and those made through persuasion."
