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CV NEWS FEED // Oregon medical professionals and pro-life advocates recently spoke out against Senate Bill 1003, a proposed expansion of the state’s assisted suicide law.
The bill, currently under consideration in the Oregon Legislature, would significantly reduce the waiting period for assisted suicide from 15 days to just 48 hours. It would also allow non-physicians to authorize and prescribe lethal medication and require hospice providers to publicly advertise whether they provide assisted suicide.
In 1994, Oregon became the first state to legalize physician-assisted suicide. The law officially went into effect in 1997 and has been expanded multiple times since then.
Ahead of the bill’s March 3 public hearing, more than 700 Oregonians sent messages to their state senators in opposition, according to a March 10 press release from Oregon Right to Life. At the state capitol, pro-life demonstrators gathered with the message “Care, not killing” to protest the proposed changes.
During the hearing, medical professionals raised serious concerns about the dangers of the bill.
Dr. Charles J. Bentz, a primary care physician and medical professor, shared the story of a patient whose request for assisted suicide was met with immediate approval rather than efforts to address his underlying depression.
“Suicidal ideation used to be considered as a cry for help,” he testified, “but here in Oregon the only help my patient received was a lethal prescription, intended to kill him.”
Dr. Brick Lantz, president of the Slocum Research and Education Foundation, warned that normalizing assisted suicide has coincided with rising overall suicide rates, creating what he called a “social contagion” that undermines suicide prevention efforts.
“We are in a crisis of anxiety, depression, hopelessness, purposeless[ness], and despair,” Lantz said. “Please do not exacerbate this problem in our communities. The law is a tutor and changes the way we think and act. We need more safeguards, not less.”
Others, like Dr. Sharon Quick, the president of the Physicians for Compassionate Care Education Foundation, cautioned that reducing the waiting period would eliminate critical time for doctors to properly assess patients and explore alternative treatments.
In 2023, Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek removed the state’s residency requirement, allowing people from outside Oregon to travel there to obtain lethal prescriptions. Following this change, state data showed a sharp increase in assisted suicide cases. A 2023 Oregon Health Authority report revealed a nearly 30% rise in prescriptions and a 20% increase in reported deaths.
According to Oregon Right to Life, at least 2,847 people have died using physician-assisted suicide since its legalization, with thousands more receiving prescriptions for lethal drugs.
Sharolyn Smith, political director for Oregon Right to Life, described her father’s long struggle with chronic pain, disability, and a recent terminal diagnosis. Despite strong family support, she said, he still battles feelings of worthlessness. Smith fears that policies like SB 1003 would make it even easier for the healthcare system to suggest death instead of providing true care.
“My dad — and every patient like him — is valuable and deserves true care and support no matter their diagnosis or ability,” she said in the release. “We must reject policies that pressure people into thinking their lives are worth less because of a medical diagnosis.”
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