Skip to content

District of Columbia

CURRENT STATUS: ENACTED

District of Columbia

About

District of Columbia’s Death with Dignity Act passed in 2017.

Timeline of Death with Dignity in District of Columbia

2019

2019

Federal attempts to interfere with D.C. Law

The 2019 federal budget proposal from the U.S. House of Representatives again contains a rider attempting to repeal the D.C. Death with Dignity Act. The rider does not make it into law, and the Act remains fully intact.

2017

2017

Death with Dignity passes in Washington D.C.

The District of Columbia is the sixth jurisdiction in the U.S. to enact an assisted- dying statute. The D.C. Death with Dignity Act goes into effect on February 18, 2017 with implementation starting in June.

Federal lawmakers opposed to the D.C. law attempt to repeal it through a budget rider. Senator James Lankford (R-Oklahoma) and Representative Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio) introduce companion resolutions, HJ Res. 27 and  SJ Res. 4, disapproving of D.C.’s law. They were joined by 55 Representatives and 3 Senators. 

The House version of the proposed 2018 federal budget contained a rider repealing the Act. The rider was left out of the Senate companion bill, and the budget passed without the rider.