"Facts of Life" Email:  March 14, 2003

Facts of Life

March 14, 2003

 

Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer once again played key roles in attempting to defeat a ban on partial-birth abortions in the U.S. Senate this week.  The bill, S. 3 sponsored by Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA), garnered 64 votes on March 13, four more than that needed to stymie a filibuster after a lengthy debate and a number of sabotage amendments and parliamentary motions.  Senator Feinstein offered a sham proposal which included a "health of the mother" exception which was defeated 35-60.  Senator Boxer resorted to ad hominem attacks regarding extraneous legislative matters on Senator Santorum, who was tasked with responding to all the spurious claims of the pro-abortion senators, and made a motion to send the bill back to committee, which was defeated 42-56.  "This bill is unconstitutional," argued Sen. Barbara Boxer.  http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,80993,00.html

 

The New York State Conservative Party has asked Senator Chuck Schumer to turn over his own memos regarding the judicial nomination of Miguel Estrada, President Bush's nominee to the District of Columbia Court of Appeal.  Schumer has played a large role in blocking Estrada's nomination, and has said he cannot vote for the nomination until he's seen internal memos written by the nominee at the time he worked for the Justice Department. The Justice Department has said that releasing the memos would violate the attorney-client privilege.  Mike Long of the Conservative Party believes that Schumer's memos regarding Estrada "would show that there is a clear coordination of various groups that the senator is working with to try to block this nomination."  Former New York Congressman Herman Badillo is also upset with Schumer for blocking the Estrada nomination.  " We want Senator Schumer to know that our community, who supported him strongly when he ran is not going to support him next year."  Miguel Estrada is from New York.     (Family News in Focus, February 24, 2003, http://www.family.org/cforum/fnif/news/a0024886.html.)     

 

While the number of deaths we know about from legal lethal prescriptions in Oregon increased dramatically in 2002, and as predicted we have learned that almost none are sought due to excessive pain, doctors in Holland are admitting that many euthanasia deaths there are no longer reported.  Jonathan Imbody, a senior policy analyst for the Christian Medical Association, has expressed concern over the shroud of secrecy surrounding physician-assisted suicides in Oregon.  "The secretive suicide scheme in Oregon poses a dangerous departure from democratic principles and government protection of its most vulnerable citizens. In light of the tragic euthanasia purges of last century, the notion of state-sponsored, medically induced death under a veil of secrecy should be anything but comforting."  http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20030308-16040153.htm   An annual report conducted by the Oregon Department of Human Services found that 84 percent of patients most often cited loss of autonomy, a decreasing ability to participate in activities that made life enjoyable and losing control of bodily functions as reasons for their decision to commit suicide.  One third attributed their decision to a fear that they would be a burden on family, friends or caregivers. And over a quarter said they feared inadequate pain control.
    As CNSNews.com reported, "Oregon's "Death with Dignity" law was passed by Oregon voters in November 1994 with 51 percent support and, after a lengthy court challenge, was implemented in 1997. A November 1997 ballot measure to repeal the law was defeated.  In the five years of legalized assisted suicide, the number of patients ingesting lethal medication was as follows: 16 in 1998, 27 in both 1999 and 2000, 21 in 2001 and 38 in 2002.  A summary of the 5th annual report is available here, with a link to the actual report on this site:  http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp?Page=\Nation\archive\200303\NAT20030311c.html