The Euthanasia Educational Fund was established by of the
Euthanasia Society of America in 1967 as a
tax-exempt organization
Tax exemption is the reduction or removal of a liability to make a compulsory payment that would otherwise be imposed by a ruling power upon persons, property, income, or transactions. Tax-exempt status may provide complete relief from taxes, redu ...
under
US law
The law of the United States comprises many levels of Codification (law), codified and uncodified forms of law, of which the supreme law is the nation's Constitution of the United States, Constitution, which prescribes the foundation of the ...
. It later renamed itself the Euthanasia Educational Council in 1972, and Concern for Dying in 1978.
The last name change was due to popular misconception that
euthanasia
Euthanasia (from : + ) is the practice of intentionally ending life to eliminate pain and suffering.
Different countries have different Legality of euthanasia, euthanasia laws. The British House of Lords Select committee (United Kingdom), se ...
referred to so-called "
mercy killing", which the society opposed.
Concern for Dying promoted
right to die
The right to die is a concept rooted in the belief that individuals have the Self-ownership, autonomy to make fundamental decisions about their own lives, including the choice to Suicide, end them or undergo voluntary euthanasia, central to the b ...
legislation in several
US state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...
s, as well as promoting the idea of a
living will
An advance healthcare directive, also known as living will, personal directive, advance directive, medical directive or advance decision, is a document in which a person specifies what actions should be taken for their health if they are no longe ...
and other legal measures supporting the right to die.
By the 1980s the organization became one of the biggest groups promoting
voluntary euthanasia
Voluntary euthanasia is the purposeful ending of another person's life at their request, in order to relieve them of suffering. Voluntary euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide (PAS) have been the focus of intense debate in the 21st century, ...
in the US, alongside the
Society for the Right to Die.
The organization is currently defunct.
References
{{reflist
External links
Concern for Dying papers Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation, River Campus Libraries,
University of Rochester
The University of Rochester is a private university, private research university in Rochester, New York, United States. It was founded in 1850 and moved into its current campus, next to the Genesee River in 1930. With approximately 30,000 full ...
1967 establishments in the United States
Organizations established in 1967
Euthanasia in the United States