X-Message-Number: 8305
Date: Tue, 10 Jun 1997 08:05:46 -0700
From: David Brandt-Erichsen <>
Subject: Oregon update

Abridged from the New York Times, June 10


OREGON MOVES NEARER TO NEW VOTE ON ALLOWING ASSISTED SUICIDE

By CAREY GOLDBERG

SEATTLE -- When Oregon enacted the nation's first law permitting doctors
to help their terminally ill patients commit suicide, the state was
expected to become a national laboratory for a new way of dying.

But the measure has been held up in the courts since it became law in
1994, and Oregon lawmakers agreed on Monday to send the whole idea back
to the voters for a possible repeal of the law.

In the final legislative act needed to set the referendum in motion, the
Oregon Senate voted 20 to 10 to ask the people this fall whether they
want to repeal Measure 16, the ballot initiative decreeing that
terminally ill patients can ask their doctors for a prescription to end
their lives.

The move brought predictions that until November, Oregon would be the
primary arena for the emotionally laden struggle over assisted suicide,
already debated at a high pitch across the country.

Both sides of the debate in Oregon predict victory in a referendum. The
initial measure was approved with only 51 percent of the vote; in recent
weeks, a group backing the measure, Oregon Right to Die, has said its
polling shows that 62 percent of residents would vote against repeal of
the measure. Opponents said their survey showed 61 percent agreed that a
new vote was needed.

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