Salem, Ore. — Pro-life medical and mental health professionals shared powerful testimony in opposition to Senate Bill 1003, a bill that would dramatically expand assisted suicide in Oregon.
SB 1003, introduced last month during Oregon’s 83rd legislative session, would amend Oregon’s “Death With Dignity Act” to reduce the 15-day waiting period to just 48 hours; allow non-physicians to consult patients and prescribe lethal medication; and require hospices to advertise whether they facilitate assisted suicide, making it easier for patients to be directed toward facilities that will not object.
Ahead of the bill’s public hearing at 3:00 PM on Monday, March 3rd, nearly 700 pro-life Oregonians submitted messages to their state senators opposing the bill, and over one hundred submitted written testimony. On Monday afternoon, pro-life advocates arrived at the Capitol to demonstrate their opposition to the bill, wearing the message “Care, not killing.”
Alongside Oregon medical professionals with extensive expertise, Oregon Right to Life lobbyist and political director Sharolyn Smith testified in-person before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
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“My dad is disabled, has lived with chronic pain for over 20 years, and recently received a terminal diagnosis. I’ve spent my life in doctor’s offices with him, watching his independence slip away, and in result, walk alongside him through his ongoing struggle with depression and suicidal ideation. Despite having a strong support system, he still struggles with feeling like a burden. That’s why I fear what SB 1003 could mean for people like him. Instead of affirming his value, this bill makes it even easier for a broken health care system to suggest death as the answer. My dad–and every patient like him–is valuable and deserves true care and support no matter their diagnosis or ability… We must reject policies that pressure people into thinking their lives are worth less because of a medical diagnosis.” – Sharolyn Smith, Political Director for Oregon Right to Life.
“[M]y patient expressed a wish for doctor-assisted suicide to his oncologist. Rather than taking the time and effort to address the question of depression, or ask me to talk with him as his primary care physician and as someone who knew him, the specialist called me and asked me to be the ‘second opinion’ for his suicide … Given his depression, I was very concerned about my patient’s mental state, and I told her that addressing his underlying issues would be better than simply giving him a lethal prescription. Unfortunately, my concerns were ignored, and approximately two weeks later my patient was dead from an overdose prescribed by this doctor. … Suicidal ideation used to be considered as a cry for help but here in Oregon the only help my patient received was a lethal prescription, intended to kill him.” – Charles J. Bentz M.D., FACP Medical Director and Professor School of Physician Assistant Studies Pacific University.
“As the number of assisted deaths has risen yearly since 1997, so has the overall number of suicides. There is a correlation between the tragedy of suicide and [Physician-Assisted Suicide]. When we as a culture, a society, as the state of Oregon, devalue life, suicide becomes more commonplace. I know this personally. It becomes a social contagion and counteracts our suicide prevention programs. We are in a crisis of anxiety, depression, hopelessness, purposeless[ness], and despair. Please do not exacerbate this problem in our communities. The law is a tutor and changes the way we think and act. We need more safeguards, not less.” – Brick Lantz M.D., President of the Slocum Research and Education Foundation.
“Determining how near someone is to death … is a difficult prognosis that specialists frequently get wrong … Reducing the waiting period does not allow adequate time to fully assess a patient who is suffering; sometimes it is emotional/psychological/existential problems that can worsen physical pain … 48 hours is too short to see results … This bill sets up death by [ableism], devaluing vulnerable patients who are suffering from disabilities (e.g., mental health problems, lack of capacity, psychological distress over loss of function due to new onset disabilities associated with their decline) that will not be uncovered due to lack of time for proper assessment.” – Sharon Quick, M.D., MA (Bioethics), President of the Physicians for Compassionate Care Education Foundation.
“Reducing the waiting period to 48 hours removes that protection that was promised in the original Measure [16] and the original assisted suicide law … Permitting physician assistants and nurse practitioners to be the ‘provider’ will result in more errors in medical diagnosis and more mistakes in determining if a person is terminal. Voting in favor of SB 1003 will result in unnecessary deaths.” Dr. Kenneth R. Stevens, Jr., M.D. Radiation Oncologist (1967-2019), Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) faculty (1972-2019), OHSU Department of Radiation Oncology Chair (1989-2004).
“[T]he provisions in SB1003 disproportionately affect vulnerable minorities including communities of color, immigrants and those who value the importance of taking care of their elderly vulnerable parents and loved ones till their natural end of life, thereby exacerbating existing inequalities. Many immigrant communities and Black communities have historic suspicion of the health care system. Any discussion of physician assisted suicide upfront or even advertised or posted online will rekindle their historic trauma including the horrors of Tuskegee experiments or similar traumatic experiences in Europe and elsewhere and lead to further health access inequity.” – Satyanarayana Chandragiri M.D., Board Certified Psychiatrist.
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Oregon became the first state to legalize physician-assisted suicide – euphemistically called “death with dignity” – over 30 years ago in 1994. The measure took effect in 1997 after overcoming legal challenges. In 2023, Oregon’s Democratic Governor Tina Kotek signed a law stripping away the residency requirement for assisted suicide, allowing Oregon physicians to prescribe lethal drugs to people from other states. The Oregon Health Authority (OHA) had already stopped enforcing the residency requirement in 2022.
The rollback of the rule was followed by an immediate surge in overall prescriptions and deaths. The OHA report for 2023, released in March 2024, showed an almost 30% increase in physician-assisted suicide prescriptions and a 20% increase in reported deaths following ingestion of the prescribed drugs. In a press release, the government agency attributed the uptick in part to the removal of the residency requirement. Per the OHA report, a total of 4,274 people have been prescribed the lethal drugs since the passage of Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act, leading to the deaths of at least 2,847 people.
For media inquiries or interviews, please contact ORTL communications director Ashley Sadler at 530-859-1957 or ashley@ortl.org.
