The East Brunswick-based Right to Life Australia group has distributed pamphlets in Ararat and Stawell urging people opposed to assisted dying to contact Ms Staley.

“Do you believe in suicide prevention or suicide assistance from your doctor?” the pamphlets stated.

“You can stop this! Contact your MP today.

“Remember the life you save may be your own.”

Ms Staley did not produce the pamphlets but they did feature her name in a prominent position, leading to some confusion about who wrote and sent the material.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has pledged to introduce legislation “in coming months” to allow assisted dying for consenting adults with later-stage terminal illnesses. 

The Right to Life pamphlets placed a priority on opponents making visits to Ripon’s electorate office or writing a short letter, but also contain phone numbers, email addressees and social media accounts for Ms Staley’s office.

Ms Staley, a Liberal member, has previously said she was unable to guarantee her vote on the legislation as it had not been presented to opposition members.

“If the legislation meets what was in the original parliamentary report, which came out last year, if it reflects the recommendations, I am likely to support it,” she said.

Right to Life Australia has also distributed pamphlets in nine marginal electorates, with Labor Member for Bentleigh Nick Staikos claiming he received abusive messages as a result.

Right to Life Australia president Margaret Tighe, who authorised the pamphlets, said the group was opposed to people taking their own lives in any circumstances.

“The reason that we have distributed these letters is to educate people as to the reality of what the government is proposing.

“We are trying to wake people up to the fact that once you legalise this sort of thing, it escalates.”

Mrs Tighe pointed to laws in Belgium that allowed euthanasia for minors and those with mental illnesses.

Based on the 66 recommendations adopted by the government, it is highly unlikely that Victoria’s assisted dying legislation would include those provisions.

“Once legislation is passed in our parliament that says some lives are worth less and are not worth living, there is no holding back,” Mrs Tighe said.

“You will find, little by little, that it will never be turned around, it will only escalate.

“Once you say that you can do something, more people get into doing it, not matter what you’re talking about.”

Grampians web developer Thomas Parkes, who supported the findings of the ministerial advisory panel that recommended legalising assisted dying, accused Right to Life of putting misleading claims in the pamphlets.

“I'll decide when to die, and the manner in which I die,” he said.

A 265-page ministerial advisory report recommended that no person be eligible for assisted dying unless they are determined to:

The pamphlets that Right to Life distributed in Ripon make a number of references to the US state of Oregon and its assisted dying laws.

Right to Life claimed that cancer patients were being denied expensive treatments from an Oregon state health fund and were being offered assisted dying medication instead.

The pamphlets focused on one particular high-profile case involving cancer patient Barbara Wagner, who was denied a $4000 per month, last-ditch treatment option from the Oregon Health Plan in 2008.

Mrs Wagner claimed the health plan sent her a letter recommending she take much cheaper pain medication, which she viewed as an effort to push her towards assisted dying.

Oregon Health Plan said it was unable to fund the treatment Mrs Wagner sought because the odds of survival were less than the five per cent threshold needed for taxpayer-funded procedures.

The Health plan said it took a ‘neutral’ position on assisted dying, was prepared to spend whatever it took on palliative care to make patients comfortable, and that the letter was poorly worded.

Mrs Tighe denied the pamphlets were misleading about assisted dying laws in Oregon.

“We’ve just had a visit from Professor William Toffler, who is a physician in Oregon, and who is very up to date with what is happening in Oregon,” she said.

“These are true stories; there have been instances where people who have had these expensive drugs and the health department has told them to commit suicide instead.”

For help call Suicide Helpline Victoria on 1300 651 251 or Lifeline on 131 114.