8mm
Posted on 07/14/2008 4:04:46 PM PDT by wagglebee
Olympia, WA (LifeNews.com) -- Voters in Washington state head to the polls in November to decided whether to make it the second, after Oregon, to legalize assisted suicide. In the coming months, they'll likely see a one-sided campaign in favor of I-1000 because the backers of the initiative have a nearly 12-1 advantage in fundraising.
The numbers should light a fire under pro-life advocates, patient and disability rights groups and medical professionals who don't want euthanasia to expand.
Backers of the assisted suicide proposal turned in more than enough signatures earlier this month to likely qualify for the ballot.
And when the debate begins, a new Vancouver Columbian article shows proponents will have a significant money advantage.
The campaign for the initiative has raised $1,124,000 with $315,000 coming in from the group that made assisted suicide legal in Oregon. The main group opposing I-1000 has raised just $95,600.
While opponents have raised all of their money from Washington residents, assisted suicide crusaders have brought in funds from out of state.
"Most of our donations come from Washington, Oregon, California, New York and Florida," Peg Sandeen, the executive director of the Oregon-based Death With Dignity National Center, admitted to the newspaper.
To help engender more support across party lines, two attorneys are working with a group of state legislators who are Democrats to create a new Democrats Against Assisted Suicide organization.
Sen. Margarita Prentice, chairwoman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, is a member of the new group and says the proposal has significant problems.
"This very dangerous initiative never would have passed the Legislature," she said, adding that lower-income and lower-educated residents would face pressure to end their lives instead of receiving further medical care.
Meanwhile, Dan Duringer, of the group LifePAC, told the newspaper that assisted suicide will lead to euthanasia.
"We understand the convenience of people wanting to have control at the end of their lives, but this also takes away control from people who are vulnerable," he said. "Coercion can be a very subtle thing."
"We don't think the safeguards are there or can be there," he added. "There's a real concern when Mr. Gardner says this is just the first shot. We know he wants to go further."
Booth Gardner the millionaire former governor of the state, is the lead spokesman for the I-1000 assisted suicide proposal.
Gardner suffers from Parkinson's disease, which is incurable but not fatal and he would not qualify to use the assisted suicide measure to take his own life. However, it prompted his desire to speak up for those who may want to take advantage of the grisly idea.
Last year, pro-life advocates were successful in stopping assisted suicide in California, Hawaii, and Vermont. They worried Washington would join Oregon, where assisted suicides are at an all time high.
This isn't the first time euthanasia backers have tried to get the state to authorize assisted suicide. In 1991, 54 percent of state voters rejected Initiative 119, which, unlike this new measure, allowed doctors to administer the drugs.
Related web sites:
Washington Coalition Against Assisted Suicide - http://www.noassistedsuicide.com
Human Life of Washington -- http://www.humanlife.net
The culture of death ALWAYS wants to go further.
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Wow...they waited til the second paragraph to try to blur the line between assisted suicide and euthanasia!
"This very dangerous initiative never would have passed the Legislature,"
Typical Democrat...hating the fact that The People actually have rights and can make their own decisions!
We understand the convenience of people wanting to have control at the end of their lives, [...]
If you think it's about "convenience," then you don't understand.
This isn't the first time euthanasia backers have tried to get the state to authorize assisted suicide.
"euthanasia backers"? Let's see the citation for that, Mr. Ertelt. Or are you just spewing slime? Whether euthanasia backers are supporting it or not is irrelevant; many non-backers of euthanasia support it, too.
They worried Washington would join Oregon, where assisted suicides are at an all time high.
Let's see.... OOOOH! Up to 49! That's about 0.001% of the population of the state...a vertitable homicidal rush occurring, I see.
More than 80% had cancer and more than 85% were in hospice care. In total, the number who have died by assisted suicide is 0.003% of the number of Oregonians who died of the same diseases.
Oh yeah, people are just lining up to do this.
Why can't those who want to run other peoples' lives be honest?
From 2007 Annual Report: As in previous years, the most frequently mentioned end-of-life concerns were: loss of autonomy (100%), decreasing ability to participate in activities that made life enjoyable (86%), and loss of dignity (86%).
Imagine that....loss of autonomy. Yet these idjits want to remove peoples' autonomy and try to claim that they are HELPING.
Sadistic control freaks.
Kinda tough to get donations when you can’t support your position without resorting to misleading statements...it’s no wonder they are having trouble raising funds.
Yes, and if this were a law protecting life, a federal judge would be quick to ban the enforcement. But since this is a law that kills people, any legal challenge to it by pro-life groups will be ignored by the judges.
Say WA? Evergreen State ping
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This is the second salvo in my memory...of course even when things are quiet the left is busy stirring at some cauldron or other. They will keep moving the ball forward until they get this passed and a whole lot more. 40 years ago we couldn’t imagine gay marriage or transgendered-all-messed-up-every-which-way “rights”, but here we are...
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