Posted on 01/09/2008 3:43:51 PM PST by wagglebee
Olympia, WA (LifeNews.com) -- As expected, former Washington Gov. Booth Gardner paved the way for an intense statewide debate over assisted suicide as he filed papers to make it the second state after Oregon to legalize the grisly practice. Pro-life groups will likely rally along with disability advocates and the medical community in opposing the bill.
Under the measure, Washington residents who have less than six months to live would be able to ask a doctor for a prescription for lethal drugs to kill themselves.
Now that Booth has filed the paperwork with the state, his campaign committee must gather 225,000 signatures by July 3 from state residents to qualify the measure for the November 2008 ballot.
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.
However, Booth's committee, "It's My Choice" has already gathered more than $319,000 in donations for this effort.
"This is something we should do. We should have done it a long time ago," Gardner said, according to the Seattle Times. "It's the right thing to do - it's the Christian thing to do."
Sister Sharon Park, director of the Washington State Catholic Conference, said her group will strongly oppose the measure.
"Certainly, we hold that life is a gift from God and it's sacred and we're to hold it as a gift," she told the Times. "That certainly would be why we would not be supportive of assisted suicide."
Duane French, who heads that group "Coalition Against Assisted Suicide," said the disabled would play a prominent role in opposing the measure. He says he's concerned that the initiative makes no mention of the term, "suicide."
That's because backers of the proposal can't word it in a way that violates current law prohibiting state residents from encouraging someone to commit suicide.
A battle over the language in the initiative could wind up in court before it ever makes the ballot.
Gardner, a Democrat, was Washington's governor from 1985 to 1993, and his measure would allow doctors to prescribe lethal doses of drugs to kill terminally ill patients. Two physicians would have to agree that the patient had fewer than six months to live and was mentally capable of making the decision.
Ironically, just months ago Gardner underwent deep brain surgery for Parkinson's Disease, which could possibly be used to help incapacitated patients like Terri Schiavo.
Bioethics watchdog Wesley J. Smith says the former governor is ignoring the dangers and problems associated with allowing doctors to have a role in killing their patients.
"The potential for--and abuses that are actually happening--from legalized assisted suicide are well documented," Smith says.
"But advocates like Gardner willfully ignore that part of the story. Bluntly stated, they want what they want for themselves and don't care who gets hurt," he adds.
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.
The culture of death's goal is to institute mandatory euthanasia for people with certain conditions.
Pro-Life Ping
Ping
Freepmail wagglebee or little jeremiah to subscribe or unsubscribe from the moral absolutes ping list.
FreeRepublic moral absolutes keyword search
The so-called “right to die” becomes a State-imposed duty to die.
As usual, the people pushing for it aren’t the ones it would be done to.
Yes it will.
"This person suffering from hereditary
defects costs the people 60,000
Reichmarks during his lifetime. People,
that is your money. Read 'New People'."
How about Doctor Mengele? Or are we supposed to discuss euthanasia without mentioning anyone or anything associated with euthanasia?
Leave it to the People’s Republic of Washington to be dwelling on such a thing at this time.
“Assisted Suicide” is part of the RATs national health care
program. Kill the old and disabled to save medical costs.
NO! We are forbidden to mention the NAZIS, HITLER, MENGELE or EICHMANN when talking about euthanizing "worthless eaters." The word HOLOCAUST is also off-limits. Also, we must remember that probate judges are among the nation's preeminent constitutional scholars, nobody should question them if they decide to ignore a Congressional subpoena, the United States Constitution or their state constitution.
Also, when a person is about to be euthanized it is very important to ascertain whether or not they are in the United States legally, especially if they have a Hispanic name. It is also critical to find out of they or their family has ever received any type of government assistance. If there is any question about either of these two issues, this is far more important than whether they should live or die.
When speaking about the abortion of 50 MILLION AMERICANS in the past 35 years, DO NOT call it an "American Holocaust" because it isn't, it's really just a "choice" that a woman should be allowed to make without being judged, it is really no different than changing her hairstyle. And NEVER under any circumstances compare Roe v. Wade to other Supreme Court Rulings like the Dred Scott Decision, Plessy v. Ferguson or Buck v. Bell; a sub-category of this "rule" is that abortion cannot be compared to slavery.
Those are the "rules" as the FRiberal deathbots have explained them to me.
My fear is that an accepted “condition” would be age. I am 67 and worry about what this trend could mean to me as I advance in age. My dad lived a great life and died at 97. I only hope to have another 20-30 years. If taking lives in the womb is acceptable, it is only a matter of time when taking lives in peoples later years is OK.
While I am against suicide (and how can one assist in a suicide which is literally to kill oneself), I would make one exception: I would offer to assist any politician off herself. I realize that would likely mean I would have to learn how to pound a stake through her heart because all the famous politicians have demonstrated time after time that a bullet through the brain would be difficult because their brains tend to occupy such a miniscule portion of their crania. But then driving a stake through the heart of a politician might prove equally problematic.
But I do, what the heck.
And now, killing the infirm.
Question: Why not just drop several neutron bombs on all the populated areas and be done with it? That seems to follow the pattern, and that way everyone gets killed, and that's where they're headed anyway. Then the little animals can begin re-populating and it will be one big happy pristine people-free zone!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.