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The VE Bulletin Excerpts
'No price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself' Rudyard Kipling
Oregon’s assisted suicide law upheld
The US Supreme Court has upheld the Oregon Death with Dignity Act which has been twice approved by voters since coming into effect in 1997. The Bush administration attempted to overturn the law by declaring that assisted suicide was not a legitimate medical purpose under the Controlled Substances Act (1970), and that prescribing federally controlled drugs was against the law.
Oregon’s successful challenge mounted in the Supreme Court represented the third victory against federal interventions to deny citizens of that jurisdiction autonomy in dying. Previous defeats were before a US appeals court and a federal judge. The latest court ruling (6-3) stated that former attorney general John Ashcroft had misinterpreted a federal law in 2001. One of the dissenting judges who sought the overturning of the Death with Dignity Act was newly appointed Justice John Roberts.
Despite this third ruling a White House spokesman claims the US Justice Department will again review the decision, as ‘the President remains fully committed to building a culture of life’.
‘Bush Defeat on Aided Suicide’, The Australian, January 19th 2006.
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