×

Cooper, Warner butt heads over euthanasia amendment

(Capitol Notes - Graphic Illustration/MetroCreative)

CHARLESTON — The Democratic candidate for West Virginia Secretary of State believes the office is not following the clear language of state law and the state Constitution in how the office informed voters about a constitutional amendment on the ballot prohibiting assisted suicide.

Thornton Cooper, a South Charleston attorney who was unopposed in the Democratic primary for secretary of state, accused current Secretary of State Mac Warner of skirting the law by only publishing a summary about a proposed state constitutional amendment instead of publishing the full language of the amendment.

“This is the most important thing you do,” Cooper said. “How can you minimize how important that is to let people see when you’re changing the state Constitution? Those are the rules that are preeminent over all the other state rules. You don’t even let people see what they’re voting on.”

The West Virginia Legislature adopted House Joint Resolution 28 during the 2024 regular session earlier this year. The joint resolution placed on the November general election ballot a proposed state constitutional amendment that would ban medically-assisted suicide and/or euthanasia.

Amendment 1 would add language to the state Constitution prohibiting individuals, doctors, or other health care providers in West Virginia from participating in “assisted suicide, euthanasia, or mercy killing of a person.” The proposed amendment would not apply to the prescribing of medication to provide pain relief for dying individuals, withholding or withdrawing life-sustaining treatments, or if the state reinstates the death penalty.

The Secretary of State’s Office placed legal ads in state newspapers at the end of July. The public notice of the proposed constitutional amendment only includes the title of the proposed constitutional amendment. But Cooper said this flies in the face of requirements by the state Constitution and State Code.

Article 14 Section 2 of the state Constitution states that the Legislature is required to cause any amendment to the state Constitution “…to be published, at least three months before such election in some newspaper in every county in which a newspaper is printed.”

State Code 3-11-3 places the responsibility of publishing the proposed constitutional amendment in newspapers.

“The Secretary of State shall cause each proposed amendment, with its title and summary of purpose, to be published as a Class I legal advertisement at least three months before such election in some newspaper in every county in the state in which a newspaper is printed.”

Cooper said language added to State Code in 1970 allowing the publication of the proposed amendment’s title and summary is used by the Secretary of State’s Office to avoid publishing the whole amendment. He believes the language requires all three items to be published. Cooper said he has been fighting with secretaries of state over this since the 1970s.

“It’s like you go in the bookstore and you get the book cover, but you don’t get the book,” Cooper said. “Every time since then I’ve been reminding the secretary of state to publish the full text. I’ve done it with almost every secretary of state since then.”

Nearly a decade ago, Cooper filed suit against former Secretary of State Natalie Tennant over an issue where the office did not file the required legal notice for a constitutional amendment 90 days out from the election. While the court sided with Cooper in that case, the court ruled that the late legal publication was not grounds for overturning the vote on the amendment despite the late notice.

“Respectfully, we disagree,” said Donald “Deak” Kersey, the chief of staff to Warner who has served as the office’s chief legal counsel and Elections Division director.

Kersey pointed out that language in HJR 28 included a summary of the proposed constitutional amendment in order to comply with State Code 3-11-2. “The purpose of this amendment is to protect West Virginians against medically assisted suicide.”

“That is the express language that we published, as required by W. Va. Code 3-11-3,” Kersey said.

Cooper said he is considering filing a lawsuit in Kanawha County Circuit Court to require the Secretary of State’s Office to publish the full amendment in state newspapers.

“If it takes it, I will promise to file a lawsuit to get them to do what they should have done back in July or three months before the election,” Cooper said.

In West Virginia, medically assisted suicide is already illegal. State Code 16-30-15, also called the West Virginia Health Care Decisions Act, already allows for withholding or withdrawal of life-prolonging intervention in accordance with the decision of a medical power of attorney representative or surrogate decision maker.

The act specifically states that “nothing in this article shall be construed to legalize, condone, authorize or approve mercy killing or assisted suicide,” with State Code allowing for the criminal prosecution for aiding in assisted suicide. Cooper said he does not support Amendment 1.

“I am voting against it, because I believe in bodily autonomy,” Cooper said. “If you have a doctor who determines you’re competent and you have less than six months to live, I think you should be able to get medical assistance to shorten your time on this planet. You’ve already lived a full life.”

Steven Allen Adams can be reached at sadams@newsandsentinel.com

Starting at $2.99/week.

Subscribe Today