X-Message-Number: 8184
Date: Tue, 06 May 1997 18:57:32 -0700
From: David Brandt-Erichsen <>
Subject: Oregon update

I just returned from vacation and can provide the following update:

        Abridged from the PORTLAND OREGONIAN, May 3, 1997

        SUICIDE LAW CLOSER TO RETURNING TO BALLOT
        MARK O'KEEFE - of the Oregonian Staff


        Summary: A bill passed by a House committee would send 1994's
        Measure 16 back to the voters, possibly in November


        Voters approved Oregon's doctor- assisted suicide law in 1994.
        Surveys show they continue to support it. Nevertheless, Measure 16
        would go back to the ballot under a bill approved by a House
        committee Friday.

        The 6-4 vote after a raucous work session of the House Judiciary
        Committee revealed the depth of emotion felt on both sides.

        Although a possible election is six months away, opponents and
        proponents have launched a war of words, fund raising and
        political pressure, with campaign strategies in place. Because
        Oregon could be the first state to allow doctor-assisted suicide,
        it is seen as a laboratory of national importance.

        House Bill 2954 is expected to reach the House floor in about two
        weeks, where the vote is seen as close, with increasing momentum
        to opponents of assisted suicide . If it passes the House, the
        more conservative Senate is likely to approve it.

        Bills that refer issues to the voters bypass the governor and a
        potential veto. When assisted suicide would return to the ballot
        is in doubt, but the Legislature is considering a special election
        this November.

        The 1994 assisted suicide law has not gone into effect because of
        a legal challenge. That will be resolved by the U.S. Supreme
        Court, possibly in a few months, perhaps more than a year. The
        1994 measure remains a law, whether under legal appeal or facing a
        second popular vote.
        
        Legislators seem most concerned about a finding that didn't
        emerge until after the 1994 election. According to studies in the
        Netherlands, where assisted suicide and euthanasia long have been
        practiced, about 25 percent of patients endure lingering deaths of
        three hours to several days when taking oral medication alone.

        Patients are rarely in pain during this time. But families
        sometimes panic as unconscious loved ones convulse, snort and
        breathe loudly instead of dying instantly as expected.

        Dutch doctors can ensure death with a lethal injection. In Oregon,
        Measure 16 prohibits injections [by others] and allows doctors only
               to prescribe, not to administer, medication.

        Rep. Ron Sunseri, R-Gresham, 
        chair of a subcommittee that initiated the referral, was
        criticized Friday for a statement made weeks earlier that
        there would be no repeal or referral of Measure 16.

        On Sunday, Oregon Right to Die ran a full-page newspaper ad in The
        Oregonian accusing Sunseri and other legislators of trying to
        thwart the will of the voters. It has released an April survey
        showing Oregonians less likely to re-elect a state legislator who
        passed a law making people vote a second time on Measure 16.

        Oregon Right to Die's survey shows 62 percent would vote against
        repealing Measure 16 even when told the medication can take as
        long as a day to work. State and national surveys have shown
        strong support for assisted suicide in general.

        But opponents of Measure 16 find hope in their own survey, which
        showed 61 percent saying, "We now need a new vote on Measure 16."
        Oregonians said that, however, after being told a laundry list of
        problems with the law.

        Opponents also got a boost Sunday when the Oregon Medical
        Association, previously neutral on Measure 16, opposed it.

        "Two years ago, this was a new issue," said Gayle Atteberry,
        executive director of Oregon Right to Life. "It's very obvious
        after going through these legislative hearings that all pertinent
        information wasn't known by the voters. What is the matter with
        going back to the voters and giving them a fully-informed
        opportunity to make another decision?"

        In 1994, opponents outspent proponents by about a 2-to-1 ratio. In
        April, opponents formed the Repeal Measure 16 Committee with a
        more aggressive campaign in mind.

        It will be led by Mark Kelly, credited with helping Gordon Smith
        win election to the U.S. Senate, and Chuck Cavalier, who
        orchestrated a hard-hitting campaign to defeat an assisted suicide
        measure on the 1992 California ballot.

        "This is a national fund-raising campaign," said Brooke Bodney,
        finance director of the Repeal Measure 16 committee. "Oregon is
        the litmus test to see if this issue has the ability to expand the
        country."

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