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| Butch Otto |
By Margaret Dore, Esq., MBA
Updated 07/26/19
On April 5, 2011, Idaho Governor Butch Otto signed Senate Bill 1070 into law.[1] The bill explicitly provided that causing or aiding a suicide is a felony.[2]
The bill supplemented existing Idaho law, which already imposed civil and criminal liability on doctors and others who cause or aid a suicide.[3] The bill's "Statement of Purpose" said: "This legislation will supplement existing common law and statutory law by confirming that it is illegal to cause or assist in the suicide of another."[4]
The bill was introduced in response to efforts by Compassion & Choices to legalize physician-assisted suicide in Idaho. The issue came to a head after that organization's legal director, Kathryn Tucker, wrote articles claiming that the practice, which she called "aid in dying," was already legal in Idaho. Compassion & Choices was formerly known as the Hemlock Society.[5]
