Euthanasia campaigner Lecretia Seales' Tauranga mother is pleased a bill before Parliament has cleared another hurdle.
Act Party leader David Seymour drafted the End of Life Choice Bill after Seales' death in 2015 from an incurable brain tumour.
Seales had been a vocal campaigner for the right to choose how to die after her tumour stopped responding to treatment and she faced the prospect of a drawn-out and undignified death.
Seymour's bill, which is before Parliament, would give terminally ill patients the right to choose assisted death.
Almost 40,000 people made submissions on the bill and on Tuesday, the Justice Select Committee's report was tabled in Parliament, which recommended minor changes to the bill.
MPs will debate the issue at the bill's second reading, likely to be on May 22.
Lecretia's mother Shirley Seales told the Bay of Plenty Times that she was pleased the bill would be tightened up and hoped that meant it would pass.
She said she had been frustrated at the "scaremongering" from campaigners against the bill during the submissions process.
"I hate it when people call it assisted suicide and I really get annoyed with all the scaremongering around this debate which is not based on evidence.
"As a person, Lecretia was one of the strongest, toughest little cookies I know when it came to withstanding pain and she loved life and wanted to live.
"I doubt she would have taken this choice herself but Lecretia felt very strongly that people should have the right to choose."
Seymour said the committee had done the "right thing" in referring the bill back with only minor changes and leaving substantive amendments to be debated in the House.
MPs voted for the bill at the first reading by 76 to 44, indicating enough support for the bill to pass with minor amendments, he said.
He plans to put forward further amendments, which include the provision for a binding referendum at the next election and limiting eligibility to only the terminally ill.
Right for Life group spokesman Ken Orr said he was disappointed the Justice Committee did not recommend that Parliament rejected the bill.
"Right to Life requests that Parliament support the right of people to die with true dignity by supporting the world-class palliative care provided in New Zealand."
- additional reporting NZME