California Governor Jerry Brown has signed a controversial bill allowing terminally ill patients to end their lives with the help of a physician.

Brown, a Democrat and lifelong Catholic, announced Monday he signed the right-to-die legislation after thoroughly considering all opinions.

"The crux of the matter is whether the State of California should continue to make it a crime for a dying person to end his life, no matter how great his pain or suffering," Brown said in a signing statement. "In the end, I was left to reflect on what I would want in the face of my own death."

California lawmakers passed the bill on September 11.

A previous version was failed earlier this year despite the high-profile case of 29-year-old Brittany Maynard, a brain cancer patient who moved to Oregon, where assisted suicide is legal, to end her life late last year.

"I am heartbroken that I had to leave behind my home, my community and my friends in California. But I am dying and I refuse to lose my dignity. I refuse to subject myself and my family to purposeless, prolonged pain and suffering at the hands of an incurable disease," Maynard said in a message to state legislators several weeks before her death

The End of Life Option Act allows doctors to prescribe life-ending medication to patients who are given six months or less by two doctors.

Right-to-die movement has been working to legalize the practice in California for almost two decades.

“I believe that this brings some meaning to my daughter's death, and it doesn't take away the pain, but it's hard to describe,” Maynard’s mother, Deborah Ziegler, told NBC7 on Monday. “It's bittersweet, it's bittersweet.”

There was considerable opposition to the measure especially from religious groups, who say only God can decide when a life will end.

Rights groups have also expressed concerns about the potential abuse of the law.

California became the fifth state to legalize assisted suicide. The practice is also legal in Oregon, Washington, Vermont and Montana.