Oregon ‘right to die’ backers fear Trump nominee’s impact

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – Supporters of a terminally ill person’s right to take his or her own life are alarmed by President Donald Trump’s nominee for the vacant U.S. Supreme Court seat.

Peg Sandeen, executive director of the Death With Dignity National Center in Portland, said Wednesday that Neil Gorsuch’s confirmation could mean a renewed legal battle over Oregon’s law that gives terminally ill patients the right to end their lives with medicine prescribed by a doctor.

In the book, the conservative-leaning justice from Colorado says so-called aid-in-dying amounts to “consensual homicide.” He cited Oregon’s law extensively to make the case against it.

Oregon voters approved right-to-die ballot measures in 1994 and 1997.The first-in-the-nation law survived a 2006 Supreme Court challenge.

Four states now have similar laws and 25 more are considering them.