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Anonymity of Lethal Injection Drug-Producing Companies Should be Preserved, Says VA Gov.

  • Veronica Neffinger

    Veronica Neffinger wrote her first poem at age seven and went on to study English in college, focusing on 18th century literature. When she is not listening to baseball games, enjoying the…

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  • Updated Apr 18, 2016

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. 

Publication date: April 18, 2016