ASSISTED SUICIDE REJECTED BY MICHIGAN VOTERS

On November 3, 1998, voters in the State of Michigan handed assisted suicide activists an overwhelming (71-29%) defeat by rejecting "Proposal B," an assisted suicide measure orchestrated by "Merian's Friends" (a group named after Jack Kevorkian's 19th victim).

Exit polls indicated that legalized assisted suicide was rejected by every voting group (women and men voters, minority and white voters, voters who regularly attended church and those who rarely or never went to church).

Opinion polls had shown support for the concept assisted suicide, but as voters learned more about the proposal and the dangers of legalization, they spoke loudly and clearly in the only poll that counted -- the one at the ballot box.

As expected, Jack Kevorkian's lawyer, Geoffrey Fieger who was the Democratic nominee for governor, was overwhelmingly defeated by incumbent Governor John Engler.