Pro-life official praises appeal of Oregon assisted suicide case

Published: 2004-11-11

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- A pro-life spokeswoman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops praised the Justice Department Nov. 10 for its appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court of a decision approving Oregon's use of federally controlled drugs in assisted suicides. "Federally controlled drugs should be used to heal and comfort patients, not to kill them," said Cathy Cleaver Ruse, director of planning and information in the USCCB Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities. "No patient must ever be made to feel that her life is expendable." The petition from outgoing Attorney General John Ashcroft asks the Supreme Court to overturn a decision in August by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. Reversing a Clinton administration policy, Ashcroft ruled in 2001 that the use of federally regulated drugs in assisted suicides in Oregon -- the only state where physician-assisted suicide is legal -- was not a "legitimate medical purpose" and violated the Controlled Substances Act. Doctors who participated in those suicides could face fines or jail time or lose their right to prescribe federally controlled drugs. The state of Oregon appealed the ruling and the 9th Circuit ruled in the state's favor.

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