c. 1998 Religion News Service
Judge rejects challenge to Oregon assisted suicide law
(RNS) A U.S. District Court judge has rejected a challenge to Oregon’s doctor-assisted suicide law, saying critics lacked legal standing to renew a failed lawsuit in the landmark case.
The law, which was passed by Oregon voters in 1994 and legally affirmed in 1997, permits terminally ill people to acquire lethal drug prescriptions. At least eight people have used it to end their lives since the law became effective last fall, the Associated Press reported.
U.S. District Judge Michael Hogan ruled Tuesday (Sept. 22) that the issue being argued was settled by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Critics of the law had argued that the law may not cause a direct threat of injury, but creates a”stigmatic injury”to those who are terminally ill by making their lives less worthy than others.
Hogan said he had to dismiss the opponents’ effort because the appeals court ruled that a plaintiff must have an actual injury to challenge the law.
The latest decision does not end attempts to stop the law. Congress is considering bills that would prohibit the dispensing of a federally regulated drug for use in assisting a suicide.
The Oregon Catholic Conference, a chief critic of the law,”is deeply disappointed by the ruling, which effectively shuts the courthouse door to plaintiffs wanting to challenge the constitutionality,”said Bob Castagna, conference spokesman.
Barbara Coombs Lee, the law’s chief sponsor, was pleased with the decision. There must be an injury to go to court, she said,”and nobody in Oregon has been injured”by the law.
In a separate, but related matter, the Associated Press also reported that a dispute within a Springfield, Va., family over the removal of a comatose man’s feeding tubes has caused a split among some Roman Catholic clergy.
Michele Finn, the wife of Hugh Finn, a former television news anchor, believes her husband would not want to exist in the”persistent vegetative state”he has been in for 3 1/2 years after he was involved in an auto accident.
On Monday (Sept. 21), a judge decided to permit her to remove the feeding tube from her 44-year-old husband, despite vocal opposition from some of his relatives. Relatives have until Sept. 30 to challenge the decision.
Archbishop Thomas Kelly of Louisville, Ky., who supports Finn’s wife, said the church hasn’t resolved how to address cases where people are in a persistent vegetative state.”The spiritual side of this is that everything inside of Hugh Finn calls for him to be reunited with God,”said Kelly.”While he remains in this state, it’s like suspending that union. If Hugh goes to the Lord, then that’s a gift to everyone.” All Saints Catholic Church in Manassas, Va., is supporting the lawsuit filed by Finn’s brother, John, to prevent the tubes from being removed.”We say that everybody has a right to die naturally,”said the Rev. Daniel Gee, associate pastor of All Saints. He said removing his brother’s feeding tubes”would be nothing more than to starve him to death.”
Bill addressing out-of-state teen abortions stalls
(RNS) Proposed legislation making it a crime to take a minor across state lines for an abortion to avoid parental involvement laws stalled in the Senate Tuesday (Sept. 22).”The likelihood that we will be able to continue with respect to this legislation during this Senate session seems very unlikely,”said Sen. Spencer Abraham, R-Mich., sponsor of the bill. He cited the amount of business pending before the scheduled Oct. 9 Senate adjournment.
Sixty votes were needed to end debate and proceed to voting on the bill. But the vote to cut off debate only garnered 54 votes, the Associated Press reported.
Supporters of abortion rights hailed the vote on the law they believe would endanger teens facing unintended pregnancies.
Roger Rathman, spokesman for the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said the bill would not aid the health of teen-agers or enhance family communication.”It is just another cynical item on the congressional anti-choice agenda, he said.
Anti-abortion advocates were disappointed that the bill did not move forward.”We are dismayed that 45 senators voted with Clinton to kill legislation to protect young women and girls from harmful manipulation, often by much older male boyfriends,”said Douglas Johnson of the National Right to Life Committee.
In July, the House voted 276-150 for a similar bill that would make it a crime for any person other than a parent or legal guardian to take a minor to another state for an abortion to circumvent parental notification and consent laws.
The White House and some Democrats had wanted exemptions for relatives and friends who would have faced fines and a year in jail for aiding a minor.
Mormon Church opposes efforts to ease Utah liquor rules
(RNS) The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is opposing efforts by Utah hospitality and tourism industry officials to ease liquor regulations in the state.
At a hearing Tuesday (Sept. 22) before state liquor officials, the church repeated its stand that”existing policies on alcohol use are sound and should not be liberalized. The state should strictly control the sale and distribution of alcoholic beverages.” The Utah Hospitality Association had encouraged the Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission to review the state’s liquor laws because they have not undergone any major changes for about 10 years, the Associated Press reported.
Commission Chairman Nicholas Hales said no changes are planned, but the commission will consider the issues raised at the hearing.
Utah has some of the strictest liquor laws in the country. Grocery stores are only permitted to sell beer with a maximum content of 3.2 alcohol. Sales of wine and distilled spirits are limited to state liquor stores and a restricted number of licensed restaurants and private clubs.
Supporters of easing the laws say they want to accommodate visitors during the 2002 Winter Olympics. The Salt Lake Organizing Committee agreed not to seek any liquor law changes.
About 70 percent of Utah’s population belongs to the Mormon Church, which strongly opposes alcohol use.”Utah’s record in limiting the disastrous social and health effects of alcohol is second to none,”said Mormon Church attorney Jerry Fenn.”The state needs to preserve that remarkable record while allowing people reasonable access to alcohol.” Susan Cohen, who represented the Snowbird ski resort, said the current rules are”an intricate web of licensing”that includes different sets of rules for catering, restaurants, room service, lounges and special events.”Our business is hurt by the hoops our customers have to jump through to get a drink,”she said.
McDonald’s heiress donates $80 million to Salvation Army
(RNS) The Salvation Army has received an $80 million donation from McDonald’s heiress and philanthropist Joan Kroc. It is the largest single donation in the Salvation Army’s 120-year history.
The gift will pay for construction of a Salvation Army community center in San Diego, Kroc’s hometown, and includes 12 acres of land upon which the center will be built.
The center will be named after Kroc and her late husband, Ray Kroc, who co-founded McDonald’s, the Associated Press reported Wednesday (Sept. 23).
Major Donald C. Bell, the Salvation Army’s local commander, said because of the donation,”our vision for stronger families and revitalized neighborhoods will now become a reality for our community.” Ray Kroc died in 1984, leaving his wife his share of McDonald’s and the San Diego Padres baseball team. She sold the team in 1990.
Joan Kroc’s net worth last year was estimated at $2.1 billion, making her the 68th richest person in the United States, according to Forbes magazine.
In February, Fortune magazine ranked her as the nation’s 36th most generous philanthropist. Earlier this year, she donated $25 million to the University of San Diego for a peace studies center.
Joan Kroc said her husband would dress up as Santa Claus and solicit donations for the Salvation Army on San Diego streets during the Christmas season.”Right now, I bet there’s a lot of bell ringing going on with Ray leading the chorus,”she said.
The Salvation Army, founded by British Methodist minister William Booth, is both a conservative Christian church and a social service agency organized along military lines of authority. Booth’s organization adopted the Salvation Army name in 1878.
Falwell to take 3,000 students to Israel
(RNS) The Rev. Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University will send 3,000 of its students to Israel in January for a religious-studies tour that is an outgrowth of Falwell’s close relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Falwell has consistently supported Netanyahu’s hardline position on turning over additional land to the Palestinians as part of the Middle East peace process. At the same time, the Israeli leader has gone out of his way to cultivate Falwell and other conservative American Christian leaders who have the ear of Republican congressional leaders.
Basing his beliefs on a fundamentalist interpretation of the New Testament, Falwell says Israel should not surrender any land to the Palestinians because the Holy Land must be under Jewish control if Jesus is to return to Earth.
Falwell has led 26 student pilgrimages to Europe since he founded Liberty University in 1971, but the January trip will be the largest by far. Participants in the tour will be drawn from the 5,700 students on Liberty’s campus in Lynchburg, Va., and another 7,000 enrolled in off-campus programs.
An anonymous donation of $4 million will cover the tour, the Chronicle of Higher Education reported in its issue dated Sept. 25.
The tour will visit sites important to Christians situated both in Israel, such as Nazareth and the Sea of Galilee, and in areas of the West Bank controlled by the Palestinian Authority, such as Bethlehem.”There’s not an institution of higher learning in the United States that has made this kind of trip _ ever,”said Jay Spencer, Liberty’s vice president for enrollment management.
Quote of the day: Bioethicist Leroy Walters
(RNS)”There’s a view within the ethics community that this is a Rubicon that in principle should be crossed when the circumstances are right.” _ Georgetown University bioethicist Leroy Walters, on a proposal to use gene therapy on fetuses in hopes of curing them of deadly diseases before birth, as quoted by the Associated Press on Wednesday (Sept. 23).
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