[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 93 (Tuesday, July 14, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H5417]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1415
                       PHYSICIAN-ASSISTED SUICIDE

  (Ms. Hooley of Oregon asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute.)
  Ms. HOOLEY of Oregon. Mr. Speaker, last year, after 3 years of 
intense debate and two separate ballot measures, the State of Oregon 
became the first State to implement a physician-assisted suicide law. 
This was not an easy decision for the people of my State. It was the 
subject of intense debate and media coverage, and the issue was so 
thorny that the legislature even decided to send it to the voters 
twice, and both times it was approved.
  Despite this level of scrutiny in the State of Oregon, the Committee 
on the Judiciary will begin work today on a bill to overturn the Oregon 
law.
  I came to the well today to say that I understand there are a number 
of Members of Congress who have very personal concerns about this 
issue. I have deep personal reservations about the concept of assisted 
suicide; and, as a private citizen, I voted against it at the ballot 
box and in this House of Representatives. I voted against Federal 
funding of assisted suicide.
  But I understand this is not an issue about personal feelings. This 
is an issue about respecting the judgment of the voters of Oregon. This 
is about leaving Oregonians' business to Oregonians.

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