Action Alert

DID YOU KNOW?

DRUGS CONTROLLED BY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ARE BEING USED TO KILL PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES IN OREGON!

60 Senators Can Stop It

In Oregon, state law has legalized physician-assisted suicide of those women and men who are supposedly "incurable." People may be killed if their condition (if left untreated) will produce death within six months--even if, with treatment, they could live indefinitely.

Those publicly reported to have been legally killed in Oregon have two things in common: 1) the predominant reason for their death was not pain but fear of future disability, and 2) they were all killed by federally controlled drugs.

In October 1999, the U.S. House passed by 271 to 156 a bipartisan bill that would stop this abuse of the use of federally controlled drugs, while at the same time it would promote pain relief as a positive alternative.

However, the Pain Relief Promotion Act has powerful Senate enemies. Whether it passes the Senate largely depends on whether 60 of the 100 senators will vote for "cloture"--that is, vote to stop a filibuster already threatened by Senators Ted Kennedy (D- Mass.) and Ron Wyden (D-Or.).
What can you do?Write your two U.S. senators to ask them 1) to CO-SPONSOR the Pain Relief Promotion Act to stop killing patients with federally controlled drugs, and 2) to promise to vote for cloture to permit a vote on the Pain Relief Promotion Act. (The current list of co-sponsors is printed on this page.)

You should writeSenator [Name]Senate Office BuildingWashington, D.C. 20510Please send copies of any replies, either by fax to 202-628-2784, ATTN: Jenny Nolan, or by mail to NRLC, 419 Seventh St., N.W., Suite 500, Washington, D.C. 20004-2293.

(The 39 senators co-sponsoring as of 2/10/00, by state: AL Sessions, Shelby; AK Murkowski; AZ Kyl; AR Hutchinson; CO Allard; CT Dodd, Lieberman; FL Mack; GA Coverdell; ID Craig, Crapo; IL Fitzgerald; IN Bayh, Lugar; IA Grassley; KS Brownback; KY Bunning, McConnell; LA Breaux; MI Abraham; MN Grams; MS Cochran, Lott; MO Bond; MT Burns; NE Hagel; NH Gregg, Smith; NY Moynihan; NC Helms; OH DeWine; OK Inhofe, Nickles; PA Santorum; SC Thurmond; TN Frist; UT Bennett; WY Enzi.)