Action Alert!

LIFE OR DEATH FOR OLDER PEOPLE AND THOSE WITH DISABILITIES MAY DEPEND ON YOUR CALL OR LETTER!

The Pain Relief Promotion Act, sponsored by Senators Don Nickles (R-Ok.) and Joseph Lieberman (D-Ct.), passed the House of Representatives last year and is now before the U.S. Senate, where it has a bipartisan list of 43 co-sponsors. The act would prevent the use of federally controlled substances for assisted suicide and euthanasia while helping to facilitate better pain relief as a positive alternative. In Oregon, the only state thus far to legalize assisting suicide, these federally controlled drugs were used in all the publicly reported cases.

This is our chance to help stop euthanasia before it becomes embedded in American medicine and culture. America stands now with regard to euthanasia roughly where we stood in the early 1970s with regard to abortion.

It is far more difficult to reverse a rooted evil than it is to stop it before it gets culturally accepted and widely practiced.

With the fate of the vulnerable elderly and people with disabilities hanging in the balance, what we do - - or fail to do - - this year may well determine the fate of countless of our grandparents - - and grandchildren.

Below is a list of the senators who have NOT yet co-sponsored the bill as of 4/10/00, organized by state. If either or both of your senators is on the list PLEASE CALL OR WRITE TO URGE CO-SPONSORSHIP OF S. 1272, THE PAIN RELIEF PROMOTION ACT. Tell your senator you don't want the federal government to facilitate euthanasia with federally controlled drugs. (Be sure to ask for a reply, especially if you call.)

AK: Stevens; AZ: McCain; AR: Lambert-Lincoln; CA: Feinstein & Boxer; CO: Campbell; DE: Roth & Biden; FL: Graham; GA: Cleland; HI: Inouye & Akaka; IL: Durbin; IA: Harkin; KS: Roberts; ME: Snowe & Collins; MD: Sarbanes & Mikulski; MA: Kennedy & Kerry; MI: Levin; MN: Wellstone; MO: Ashcroft; MT: Baucus; NE: Kerrey; NV: Reid & Bryan; NJ: Lautenberg & Torricelli; NM: Bingaman; NY: Schumer; NC: Edwards; ND: Conrad & Dorgan; OR: Wyden & Smith; PA: Specter; RI: Reed & Chafee; SC: Hollings; SD: Daschle & Johnson; TN: Thompson; TX: Gramm & Hutchison; UT: Hatch; VT: Leahy & Jeffords; VA: Warner & Robb; WA: Gorton & Murray; WV: Byrd & Rockefeller; WI: Kohl & Feingold.

Call 202-224-3121 (Capitol Switchboard) or write:Senator [Name]Senate Office BuildingWashington, D.C. 20510

Please send copies of any replies ATTN: Jenny Nolan at FAX 202-628-2784 or NRLC, Suite 500, 419 Seventh St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20004-2293.