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Rep. Deborah Armstrong, D-Albuquerque

SANTA FE — A proposal that would allow terminally ill New Mexicans to seek a doctor’s help to end their lives passed its final House committee Wednesday and is now heading to the House floor.

Under the legislation, House Bill 90, would require the patient to self-administer the medicine that ends their life.

Rep. Deborah Armstrong, an Albuquerque Democrat and co-sponsor, said mercy killings, euthanasia and assisted suicide would remain prohibited.

“There’s nothing easy about death and dying,” Armstrong told her colleagues Wednesday. “We tried to put extensive protections in” to ensure patients aren’t taken advantage of.

The bill advanced past the House Judiciary Committee on a 9-3 vote, with Democrats in favor and Republicans opposed.