The Funeral Consumers Alliance (FCA) calls for revision of all state laws and regulations that unreasonably impede a family’s ability to care for their loved ones after death.

We believe in clarifying and restoring the rights of Americans regarding after death care, while providing for the necessary medical and public health safeguards. We are calling for all states to clearly articulate the rights of families to perform their own funeral rites without government required commercial businesses involved.

We ask all lawmakers and public officials to include a statement in their funeral, burial, and vital statistics laws that clearly states the rights of families to care for their own. We ask lawmakers and public officials in Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Nebraska, New York, and New Jersey, states where these rights have been compromised, to join us in restoring the rights of Americans to self-determination in funeral processes and practices.

This is not a partisan matter: Democrats, Republicans, Independents and those of every political creed deserve the right to choose. Neither is it a sectarian issue: Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, atheists, and adherents of all faiths or none deserve this right. This is a fundamentally American idea—that individuals, families, and households are best equipped to decide for themselves how to carry out the duties, joyous and sad, that we all will experience when a loved one dies.