GOP Puts Suicide Law in Spotlight

Death With Dignity Act - Republicans in Congress attack Oregon's law as part of a strategy to rally their conservative base.

By Jeff Kosseff, The Oregonian, June 12, 2006

WASHINGTON -- Congress was trying to pass a war funding bill and members were heading for a weekend recess when Sen. Sam Brownback held a rushed subcommittee hearing.

The Kansas Republican, one of the Senate's most socially conservative members, held the hearing to explore "the consequences of legalized assisted suicide and euthanasia."

No assisted-suicide bill has been introduced in the Senate, and none is expected this session. Brownback held the May 25th hearing purely to publicize the issue.

Republicans, confronting the possibility of losing control of Congress this November, are doing everything possible to mobilize their base of social conservatives, including a campaign emphasis on abortion, gay marriage and broadcasting decency. Now Oregon's assisted-suicide law -- and the threat of euthanasia -- may join the list of issues Republicans hope will win them political advantage.

In January, the Supreme Court blocked a Bush administration attempt to override Oregon's Death With Dignity Act, which allows physicians to prescribe lethal doses of drugs to terminally ill patients. That gives Brownback and other Republicans an opportunity to direct national attention to Oregon's law.

"I held a hearing on this topic because I think we should carefully consider the unintended consequences and slippery slope of doctor-assisted suicide and euthanasia," Brownback said in an e-mail response to questions. "Legalizing doctor-assisted suicide can lead toward involuntary euthanasia, as we've seen in the Netherlands."

The discussion also could help rally conservative voters.

"This would be something that our base is quite concerned about," said Wendy Wright, president of Concerned Women for America, a conservative Christian group.

But unlike other social issues, assisted suicide hasn't been at the forefront of national debate, creating challenges for Republicans who want to make it a campaign issue.

"This would certainly resonate with the base, the evangelicals and certainly also with Roman Catholics," said Lee Edwards, a Heritage Foundation scholar who has written 16 books on the conservative movement. "But I don't think it is an issue that's of enormous impact because I don't think people understand all that's going on."

Steep decline in support

For conservatives, Wright said, physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia are part of a broader range of "sanctity of life" issues. Those include embryonic stem-cell research and last year's debate over Terri Schiavo, the Florida woman whose feeding tube was removed when she was in a persistent vegetative state.

"It's the concept of the scientific or the medical community treating people with less dignity, as expendable," Wright said. "With physician-assisted suicide, life is treated as a burden, that people who don't meet a certain standard, that it is somehow better off for them to be dead."

While the Supreme Court ruling leaves open the possibility of Congress overriding Oregon's assisted-suicide law, neither Brownback nor other members of Congress have announced plans to propose a bill this year. Passing such legislation is unlikely during this Congress, particularly because Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., has vowed to block any attempt, as he did in 2000.

"For Brownback and the Republican leadership, this is similar to gay marriage in that there's not much chance it will be approved by the Congress," said Bill Lunch, an Oregon State University political scientist. "However, it can be for religious conservatives another reminder of why they have been supportive of the Republicans."

That is particularly important as Republicans see a steep decline in support from social conservatives, typically the party's most reliable supporters. A poll released last week by Pew Research Center reported that President Bush's job approval among conservative Republicans was 78 percent in May, down from 93 percent in December 2004.

The challenge, however, is to make the issue relevant to social conservatives nationally, since Oregon is the only state that allows assisted suicide. California and Vermont have considered similar laws.

"The pro-lifers do care about it, but the abortion issue ranks way higher," said Gayle Atteberry, director of Oregon Right to Life. "Pro-lifers became pro-life because of a baby being killed in the womb. Assisted suicide is flat out not on the horizon of hardly anybody."

And even if physician-assisted suicide becomes a national issue, public opinion surveys indicate it would not help the Republicans with moderate voters. Lunch said surveys have shown that the public supports "individuals determining how they'll end their own lives." But when the issue arises locally, he said, opponents are able to mount campaigns that reduce that general support.

Reaching average Americans

At the hearing of Brownback's Judiciary subcommittee, assisted-suicide opponents tried to make the issue hit home with average Americans. In addition to discussing the Oregon law, committee members heard testimony about incidents of doctors killing patients in the Netherlands, which permits euthanasia. Brownback said that legalizing assisted suicide is a step toward involuntary euthanasia, and he discussed the "slippery slope leading to the general disrespect for life."

"The fundamental duty of the American government, and indeed I believe of any government, is to protect and defend the life of its citizens," said Brownback, a potential candidate for the Republican presidential nomination.

Supporters of the Death With Dignity Act say the hearing twisted the debate. Oregon's law does not allow euthanasia because physicians can prescribe but not administer lethal medication.

"Euthanasia in the Netherlands is a fine issue to discuss, but it's really not germane," said Barbara Coombs Lee, president of Compassion and Choices, which supports the Oregon law.

But by positioning Oregon's law as a step toward patients being involuntary killed by doctors, Republicans may build broader support nationally.

"Euthanasia might be something of a sleeper issue," said the Heritage Foundation's Edwards. "After all, America is getting older and maybe even aging baby boomers might be a little bit sensitive to it."

Jeff Kosseff: 503-294-7605; jeff.kosseff@newhouse.com

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