Posted on 11/09/2004 1:34:14 PM PST by nickcarraway
Sacramento, CA (LifeNews.com) -- Two California legislators plan to introduce a proposal in the Golden State during the next legislative session that would make it only the second in the nation to allow assisted suicide.
Patty Berg, D-Santa Rosa, and Lloyd Levine, D-Van Nuys, both state representatives, are drafting legislation that would be modeled after Oregon's first-in-the-nation law authorizing the grisly practice.
The lawmakers say they should be able to get the legislation passed through the Democrat-controlled legislature.
Stuart Waldman, chief of staff for Levine, told the San Mateo County Times newspaper, "We wouldn't be doing it if we didn't think we could get it passed."
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger could then prove key, since he has not commented on whether he would sign such legislation if it lands on his desk.
Berg, who is the chair of the Assembly committee on aging, said, "We're working closely with Oregon, and we've had a couple other states interested in working with us as well, because as California goes, so does the rest of the nation."
The legislation would face strong opposition from pro-life groups, Catholic organizations, and possibly from the state medical association. Similar doctors groups have opposed assisted suicide bills in other states.
California Medical Association spokesman Ron Lopp told the Times that his group has not taken a position on the proposed legislation, but said the organization opposes assisted suicide.
Berg and Levine will be joined in the effort by Portland-based Compassion in Dying, a group that supports assisted suicide and euthanasia.
The final outcome of assisted suicide in California, however, may depend on whether the Supreme Court steps into a legal battle between Oregon and the Bush administration.
Attorney General John Ashcroft, expected to leave the Justice Department in the next couple of months, ruled that the drugs used in assisted suicides in Oregon violate the Controlled Substances Act because they are not used for a medical purpose. All of the drugs used in the Oregon suicides are under federal regulations.
Oregon and assisted suicide advocates challenged the ruling, and the lawsuit is now headed to the Supreme Court.
Voters in Oregon initially approved its law in 1997 allowing assisted suicide and then voted down an effort to strike the law in 1998. Some 171 people have ended their lives under the law.
In Michigan and Maine, voters overwhelmingly disapproved assisted suicide proposals. Legislation to legalize the practice has failed in Hawaii, Wyoming and Vermont.
In a 1997 case, the Supreme Court ruled that no right to assisted suicide exists, but states could decide whether to allow assisted suicides to take place.
ACTION: Contact Governor Schwarzenegger and urge opposition to assisted suicide. Write him at: State Capitol Bldg., Sacramento, CA 95814, (p) 916-445-284, (f) 916-445-4633, (e) governor@governor.ca.gov
Related web sites:
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger -
http://www.governor.ca.gov/state/govsite/gov_homepage.jsp
He's a terminator.
If the Governor wants any kind of political life he will reject this bill.
If he accepts it he is a coward and has blood on his hands.
ping
I see from the local news that Dr. Kevorkian is trying to get out of prison again.
Something tells me he'll opt for evil on this issue too.
Unlebenwertiges Leben!
Please produce the evidence!
Let's look on the bright side ~ it will assisit the lunatic left, still despondent over the butt kicking GWB gave the poser, in taking the easy way out. :)
LOL!
"Nah. Not McClintock. Arnold's going to rule like a Republican!"
LOL!
(it was plain as day...)
I dont see arnold having a political future beyond governor of california, he will probably support it.
We should support it, the guys who want to kill themselvs are probably dems.
Fresh from their stem-cell victory, the Culture of Death crowd look to score another victory for their view of humanity. And, after all, who are we to judge? (Just being sarcastic . . . )
The issues surrounding abortion are almost identical to a host of other medical issues where technology has provided us with a set of complex, time sensitive choices, where no matter what path is selected, the competing interests of human beings are at risk:
It will soon be possible to extend all life indefinitely. It won't be cheap. Making it a legal entitlement not only threatens our fiscal solvency, it means that somebody, somewhere in the world, dies, for lack of food, basic medicines, protection, or shelter. It's a fact that begs the moral question: “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”
We don't have any choice but to make life and death decisions. It sucks, but it's the job we have been given.
The commonality among these medical issues broadens the thirty-year-old battle over abortion into a discussion of how to develop the legal, moral, and administrative systems by which to make the tough decisions that come with our rapidly expanding technical ability to manipulate the entire human life cycle.
Combining these life and death issues not only puts the issue of abortion in the context in which it belongs, it broadens the number of interest groups who suddenly realize that they too have a stake in issues of life and death beyond mere sexual convenience.
So when conservatives candidates for public office are confronted with questions on abortion, it works to their advantage to point out the need to develop the decision-making processes to manage artificial manipulation of life and death in general. Such a response highlights the compassion, discipline, and clarity characteristic of conservatives as critical to bringing productive solutions to moral dilemmas.
By now it should be obvious that the existing court system is the last place to be making such decisions. The issues are too variable, technical, and urgent for that system to render just decisions. They involve the patient, the physician, and disinterested sources of legal, technical, and ethical expertise, as well as the representative of the insurance pool that pays for the procedure. There also needs to be a way that the society that lives with the outcome can place constraints on possible options. Because of their time-sensitive nature, the appeals process must necessarily be very limited.
The best way to prevent bad outcomes is preparation. Too many of us procrastinate in preparing the advanced medical directives that communicate our wishes concerning our healthcare decisions should we become incapacitated. Mandating that every citizen prepare and maintain such documents accessible to any attending physician would preclude many of these problems from ending up in the courts, prevent needless tragedies, and save an awful lot of money. A State program to assist citizens in recording and storing that information is a rational objective.
Someone said he is a RINO. Is He??
I think this would be a good idea if it applied to liberals who wants to commit suicide.
"If he accepts it he is a coward and has blood on his hands."
Too late....from Gunther von Hagen's "Body Works" to fetal stem cell cloning, he's already the human terminator....
Being right but being ineffective is of little comfort.
What do you expect from a state controlled by democrats? These people also voted to fund and encourage stem cell research. This will be a battle and I'll be on the front lines.
What happens to the guy in the hospital who hurts so bad he cries out "I wish I was dead!"
Me thinks he won't be able to retract that statement after he gets his "medication."
Will religious based hospitals have to comply or be forced out of business for refusing to kill (like abortions)?
When life is cheap and disposable the incentive to save a person is diminished. Trauma centers will be more likely to "let someone go" or procure organs from the unconscious.
If a doctor refuses to assist a suicide, will he lose hospital privileges?
If a nurse refuses to assist, will she lose her job?
If an insurance company decides a patient is too expensive, can they stop paying for care?
Yeah, great idea. The Dems know exactly what they are doing.
This Arnold is not gonna make it out of the primariy next election.
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