SALEM, September 24, 2002 (LSN.ca) – The US Justice Department issued a challenge to Oregon’s notorious Death with Dignity Act yesterday, filing an appeal with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco on grounds that federal regulations dating from 1970 prohibit American doctors from prescribing lethal doses of controlled substances. The Oregon law dates from a state-wide referendum in 1994. Since it was upheld by a 1997 plebiscite, at least 70 patients with terminal illnesses have “medically” committed suicide in the state. But supporters remain defiant: “What’s happening here is that Oregonians have decided twice that there is a medical purpose for prescribing drugs that terminate one’s life,” a spokesman for the state Attorney General told reporters. “Our fundamental belief is that the state ought to have the first say in how medicine is practiced within that state.” He was not asked whether he would apply this standard to Roe v. Wade, which unconstitutionally struck down all state laws in 1973. For related LifeSite coverage see: https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2002/may/02052704.html
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US GOVERNMENT TO CHALLENGE OREGON SUICIDE LAW
SALEM, September 24, 2002 (LSN.ca) – The US Justice Department issued a challenge to Oregon’s notorious Death with Dignity Act yesterday, filing an appeal with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco on grounds that federal regulations dating from 1970 prohibit American doctors from prescribing lethal doses of controlled substances. The Oregon law dates from a state-wide referendum in 1994. Since it was upheld by a 1997 plebiscite, at least 70 patients with terminal illnesses have “medically” committed suicide in the state. But supporters remain defiant: “What’s happening here is that Oregonians have decided twice that there is […]
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