m in the 1990’s. Advocate’s believe that mentally competent ill people should be able to seek and receive a doctor’s help to die. Euthanasia is either barred by law or has been prohibited by court rulings in almost every state. Attempts to legalize assisted suicide through voter initiative were defeated in Washington State in 1991 and in California in 1992. More than 20 state legislatures have considered and defeated similar laws.The most significant development in the debate over euthanasia occurred in June 1997, when the Supreme Court upheld two state laws that barred assisted suicide. In Vacco v. Quill and Washington v. Glucksberg, the court ruled that the Constitution did not guarantee an individual’s right to die. While finding that states could make assisted suicide illegal, the court also made it clear that states could legalize assisted suicide if they chose. Proponents of legalization have been successful in some cases. In November 1994, Oregon became the first state to make assisted suicide legal. Its law, passed by a slim margin in a voter referendum, allows doctors to prescribe a lethal dose of drugs to terminally ill patients who meet certain qualifications. For three years, the law was blocked by courts and did not take effect. In October 1997, the Supreme court refused to hear a case brought by groups who challenged the law’s constitutionality, a decision that effectively upheld the law. Its fate still hung in the balance, however, until citizens of Oregon overwhelmingly rejected a ballot initiative, by a vote of 60%-40%, to repeal the law on November 4, 1997. Assisted suicide is now officially legal in Oregon.Much like the controversy over abortion, the debate over assisted suicide is an emotional one in which morality, medical ethics, and religion all play a part. Respected medical caregivers, both doctors and nurses, debate over euthanasia. Both opponents and proponents of ...
