A group of religious leaders is protesting Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s proposal which would allow pharmaceutical companies providing lethal injection drugs to remain anonymous.
The Associated Press reports that about a dozen members of the
interfaith coalition gathered at the Statehouse on Monday to urge
lawmakers to reject the proposal.
McAuliffe’s proposal to protect the anonymity of companies who produce
the drugs used in carrying out the death penalty (which is legal in
Virginia) came about in response to a bill which would have allowed the
use of the electric chair in executions if lethal drugs were not
available.
McAuliffe rejected this bill, according to thinkprogress.org, but is in favor of capital punishment.
Several other states have adopted laws which grant anonymity to
companies that produce lethal injection drugs in order to protect the
companies’ reputations.
However, the coalition of faith leaders opposes the new measure
because, as Bishop Carroll Baltimore, the former president of the
Progressive National Baptist Convention stated, when states resort to
“secrecy or brutality” to keep “the machinery of death going,” they are
going down a bad path.
Lawmakers are expected to consider McAuliffe’s proposal on Wednesday.
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