"The Coalition of the Most Unlikely".(Oregon)

A week before the Vermont House of Representatives considered H44a virtual clone of Oregon's "Death with Dignity" measureit would be difficult to exaggerate how certain everyone was that assisted suicide was going to pass in the Green Mountain State. Pro-euthanasia forces had been chipping away at a state which (to quote Vermont Right to Life Executive Director Mary Hahn Beerworth) "is usually ripe for whatever is new, for whatever is coming down the pike" since 1976!

In the last three years, outside forces had stepped up their pace. They'd poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into passage, much of it for slick television commercials that had been running since last December. Those ads featured three former governors. Eightcount themeight high-powered lobbyists were brought on board to shepherd H44 through the legislature.

Not only had two committees already approved the proposal, but pro-lifers had lost some 15 seats in the 2006 elections. "Never will pro-euthanasia forces have the forces aligned for passage any better than they did this time round," Beerworth said.

And, then, on March 21, miraculously, the measure lost by 8263. So historic was the vote that a friend of Beerworth's, a veteran lobbyist, told her to gather all her materials together because the state Historical Society will want them!

This has been a tough year for assisted suicide proponents. They'd already lost in Hawaii, another state where the skids appeared to have been greased for passage.

But Vermont appeared to be even easier pickings. How did Vermont Right to Life, the Catholic Diocese, the Vermont Alliance for Ethical Healthcare, the Vermont Medical Association, the Vermont Organization of Nurse Leaders, and the Vermont Center for Independent Living (to name only some) defeat the assisted suicide juggernaut?

The defeat of H44 illustrates the amazing power of grassroots organization. Postcards, letters, e-mails, and phone calls poured into the state capital in Montpelier. "It was the constituent response to this bill that sealed the deal," Beerworth said.