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In Morris v. New Mexico the New Mexico Second Judicial District in a Jan. 13, 2014 ruling by Judge Nan Nash stated:

“Most fundamental rights have been attached to our system of government and an inherent concept of liberty. Some rights have been of a more personal nature such as the right of parents in the care, custody and control of their children,… the freedom of personal choice in matters of family life,… and the right to family integrity…

This Court cannot envision a right more fundamental, more private or more integral to the liberty, safety and happiness of a New Mexican than the right of a competent, terminally ill patient to choose aid in dying. If decisions made in the shadow of one’s imminent death regarding how they and their loved ones will face that death are not fundamental and at the core of these constitutional guarantees, than what decisions are? As recognized by the United States Supreme Court in Cruzan ‘[t]he choice between life and death is a deeply personal decision of obvious and overwhelming finality.’…

The Court therefore declares that the liberty, safety and happiness interest of a competent, terminally ill patient to choose aid in dying is a fundamental right under our New Mexico Constitution.”

Jan. 13, 2014 - Morris v. New Mexico