By Margaret Dore
Updated January 20, 2013
In 1972, Montana held its Constitutional Convention. At that time, the Bill of Rights Committee was charged with drafting a declaration of rights for the new constitution.
On February 2, 1972, the Committee received "Delegate Proposal 103," which proposed "the right to be born and the right to be die."[1]
On February 3, 1972, the Committee held a hearing on the "right to die."[2] According to the Committee Minutes, "Mrs. Joyce Franks presented the theory to the Committee that all persons should be able to choose his own death with dignity."[3] The record also includes her seven page written submission, titled "Bill of Rights Speech."[4] In this document, she proposed wording for a constitutional right to die; she discussed her father's long and painful death, and the right to die in terms of physician-assisted suicide and/or euthanasia.[5] Her discussion of physician-assisted suicide included this statement:
I asked the doctor which of my medicines, and how much, I could allow Dad to take with a reasonable certainty that it would kill him. The doctor wouldn't tell me.[6]Other persons also submitted testimony, for and against.[7]
On February 9, 1972, the Bill of Rights Committee rejected Proposal #103, the "Right to Die."[8]
On February 12, 1972, Joe Roberts appeared before the Committee in support of the right to die.[9] He noted the reason for the Committee's rejection of the right to die, as follows:
[T]he consensus of the delegates I have talked to indicated that while they were sympathetic to Mrs. Frank's personal tragedy, they were afraid of the implications of stating broadly a Right to Die in the Montana Constitution.[10]On March 18, 1972, the Committee's "Declaration of Rights" was adopted by the full convention without the right to die.[11]
Today, the Committee's Declaration of Rights is Article II of the Montana Constitution.[12]
With this history, there is no right to die in the Montana Constitution: it was proposed; advocated by Mrs. Franks and other persons; and rejected.
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[1] Delegate Proposal 103 can be viewed at http://maasdocuments.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/archived-del-proposal-103-rtd.pdf
[2] See Committee Minutes for February 3, 1972 (listing the "Subject of Hearing" as "18 year old vote, proposal #13 [and] Right to Die"), available at http://maasdocuments.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/archived-rtd-test-feb-3-hearing-7_0011.pdf
[3] Minutes, page 2 (middle of the page), available at http://maasdocuments.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/archived-rtd-test-feb-3-hearing-7_0011.pdf
[4] Mrs. Franks' testimony form and seven page document are available at http://maasdocuments.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/archived-mrs-franks-materials-02-03-721.pdf
[5] Id.
[6] This quote regarding physician-assisted suicide is on Mrs. Franks' page 5A, 3rd paragraph, available at http://maasdocuments.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/archived-mrs-franks-materials-02-03-721.pdf
[7] Kenneth Henry wrote: "Euthanasia. I wish to support the idea." Stella Fila____ opposed "abortion on demand" and "euthanasia." See this link: http://maasdocuments.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/archived-documents-put-in-record-2-3-72.pdf
[8] See Committee Minutes for February 9, 1972, pp. 1 & 2 ("The following decisions were made: . . . #103- Out . . ."), available at http://maasdocuments.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/archived-rtd-103-rejected-2-9-72.pdf
[9] See Mr. Roberts' testimony form at this link: http://maasdocuments.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/archived-joe-roberts-test-in-minutes-for-4-12-72.pdf
[10] The above quote is from the first paragraph of Mr. Roberts' written remarks, which can be viewed on the page after the testimony form at this link: http://maasdocuments.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/archived-joe-roberts-test-in-minutes-for-4-12-72.pdf
[11] To see the text of the Declaration of Rights submitted to the full Convention, along with a preamble, go here: http://maasdocuments.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/archived-bill-rts-final-3-18-72_001.pdf To see the Convention's roll vote, go here: http://maasdocuments.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/archived-conv-vote-3-18-72.pdf
[12] The entire Montana Constitution can be viewed here: http://courts.mt.gov/content/library/docs/72constit.pdf