California “right-to-die” opponents fail to make ballot

Opponents of a new California law that will allow terminally ill patients to legally end their own lives say they did not collect enough signatures to ask voters to repeal the law.

The group Seniors Against Suicide had hoped to take the right-to-die question to California voters next November. Proponents needed to submit nearly 366,000 signatures by Monday to qualify for the ballot.

But backer Mark Hoffman says in an email to supporters that the group does not have enough signatures to qualify.

Right-to-die was among the most hotly contested issues last year. The legislative debate followed the case of Brittany Maynard, a terminally ill 29-year-old who moved to Oregon from California to take her own life.

The law cannot take effect until California’s special session on health care ends.