I was so glad to read that the governors of New York and Illinois recently signed into law the medical aid in dying (MAID) bills that their legislatures had passed earlier this year.

That makes 13 states, including Vermont, Maine, New Jersey, and Delaware, plus Washington D.C., that have legalized this compassionate option. It offers a peaceful, painless death for people who are terminally ill, mentally capable of making their own health care decisions at the end of life, and facing unbearable suffering that even the best efforts of hospice and palliative care often can’t alleviate.

Nearly 12 years ago, I cared for my father in my home in his final weeks of life. It wasn’t easy for him, and he wished he had the option of medical aid in dying if it were legal in our state. I made a promise to him that I’d fight for this cause so that others wouldn’t have to go through what he did.

I’m grateful that state Sen. Jo Comerford and Northampton and Amherst’s Reps. Lindsay Sabadosa and Mindy Domb are leaders in the effort over many years to pass The End of Life Options Act (H.2505, S. 1486). This year it’s advanced further than ever before, passed by two health care committees, and now is in the Senate Ways and Means Committee.  If it passes the bill early in ’26, it can get a floor vote and expected passage by the Senate, and then hopefully the same in the House. Gov. Maura Healey has said that she would sign this bill if it had sufficient safeguards against possible abuse.

Such safeguards are exactly what the New York and Illinois governors found in their bills, so they signed them.  New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Catholic, said that her understanding of her faith led her to regard this law as a compassionate option of medical aid for people who are dying, not assisted suicide as many opponents of the law, including the Catholic Church hierarchy, assert. Poll after poll show that the majority of Catholics agree with her and support legalizing MAID.

So please join me to help make our state the 14th to legalize the choice of MAID.  Contact Sen. Michael Rodrigues, Co-chair of Senate Ways and Means (michael.rodrigues@masenate.gov), and urge him to bring S.1486 to a vote and pass it as soon as possible. Then contact family and friends all over Massachusetts, and urge them to do the same.

My father wanted but didn’t have this option to avoid unnecessary pain and suffering at the end of life. I would want it for myself if I face a terminal illness, and I want it for the thousands of my fellow citizens who face terminal illness now, and many more who will in the future.

Nancy Paglia lives in Montague.