Pubdate: Sat, 30 Oct 1999 Source: International Herald-Tribune Copyright: International Herald Tribune 1999 Contact: http://www.iht.com/ Author: Sam Howe Verhovek, New York Times Service U.S. TARGETS ASSISTED-SUICIDE LAW Oregonians Fuming Over Federal Attempt to Overturn Measure PORTLAND, Oregon - Oregonians have long prided themselves on being in the forefront on many social issues -- sometimes with ideas that catch on in the rest of the nation, and sometimes not. They were among the first to decriminalize marijuana and to approve its use for medicinal purposes, and they legalized abortion years before the, Supreme Court issued the Roe v. Wade decision. They were the first to conduct an election entirely by mail, and they have long had some of the strictest growth-management regulations in the nation. Five years ago, the people of Oregon passionately debated and narrowly approved a measure making theirs the first state, and one of the few places in the world, to legalize physician-assisted suicide. Two years ago, amid legal challenges to the so-called Death with Dignity Act, the state's residents voted 60 percent to 40 percent to reaffirm it. On Thursday, a day after the U.S. House of Representatives approved a measure that would effectively overturn the Oregon law and thus amounts to an extraordinary rebuke of the popular will in a single state, even many of those who opposed the law said they were angry over impending federal interference. "Why are they doing this?" asked Ronald Nelson, owner of a dance shop and studio owner in Portland who voted twice against legalizing doctor-assisted suicide. "The people in Oregon had a vote. I may not agree with it, but is Congress really saying that our vote doesn't count, it doesn't matter? That's just wrong. " From the governor to people in the street, Oregonians were invoking the phrase "states' rights" on Thursday, and the congressional action only seems to have solidified the notion that the people of Oregon, arguably the most aggressively libertarian in the country, should have the right to decide this issue themselves,. "There certainly is a strong libertarian impulse at work here, of people wanting to be free to make decisions without the government coming in," said James Moore, a professor of political science at the University of Portland. "But another thing is going on right now," Mr. Moore said. "People may fight like cats and dogs here over issues such as this, but if there is a whiff of outside interference over these things, Oregonians will all gather together and defend their right to fight and send a message to the outside, that you cannot dictate to us." For precisely that reason, he said, a referendum now on doctor-aided suicide would probably gather even more than the 60 percent "yes" vote it got last time. At the same time, many Oregonians insisted that far too much was being made of the issue by Congress. Despite predictions by critics that Oregon would be flooded with those seeking death, they noted, just 15 people took lethal medication last year, the first full year the measure was in effect. In any event, resistance here to the House action is clearly strong and intensely felt. The state's congressional delegation, which includes several members who voted twice against legalizing physician-assisted suicide, is staunchly united in trying to stop the bill that passed the House on Wednesday on a 271-to-156 vote. Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, a Democrat who said he opposed the Death with Dignity Act, has pledged to filibuster the bill in the Senate. Governor John Kitzhaber, who is a physician, and the staff of the state attorney general's office are exploring possible legal challenges if the measure passes the Senate and is signed by President Bill Clinton, which remains far from certain. The Clinton administration, which opposes provisions of the House bill that could force doctors to spend up to 20 years in prison for prescribing lethal medication, is looking for ways to get the House measure revised in the Senate, Attorney General Janet Reno said in Washington on Thursday. And some doctors in Oregon are saying they may engage in civil disobedience by continuing to offer mentally competent, terminally ill people lethal prescriptions, or perhaps by legally sidestepping the measure. Technically, the House bill does not overturn the Oregon law, though it effectively does so by banning the use of any federally controlled substance for the purpose of aiding suicide. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake