ON EUTHANASIA
OBAMA'S CAMPAIGN WEBSITE NOTES...
CAMPAIGN WEBSITE DOES NOT ADDRESS ISSUE - (We apologize for our inability to find and post a direct statement concerning the candidate and "euthanasia" from the official campaign website. As of 6/9/08 it never mentions "euthanasia". - Solidarity Institute research team)
OBAMA STATED...
I.
[In March 2005 Congress approved legislation allowing her family to take its case from state courts to federal courts in an effort to stop the euthanasia from proceeding... Terri was not on any artificial breathing apparatus and only required a feeding tube to eat and drink. Her family had filed a lawsuit against her former husband to allow them to care for her and give her proper medical and rehabilitative care... The Senate unanimously approved a compromise bill, which the House eventually supported on a lopsided bipartisan vote and President Bush signed, to help the disabled woman... During the Tuesday debate, Obama said he should have stood up against the... legislation... "It wasn't something I was comfortable with, but it was not something that I stood on the floor and stopped," Obama said. ..."And I think that was a mistake".]
"I think professionally the biggest mistake that I made was when I first arrived in the Senate. There was a debate about Terri Schiavo, and a lot of us, including me, left the Senate with a bill that allowed Congress to intrude where it shouldn't have".
(Excerpts fomr FreeRepublic.com article including some of Sen. Obama quotes - link)
II.
[The question to Sen. Obama from an Oregon newspaper was: "A couple of other issues of interest to Oregonians involve initiatives passed by the voters that have come into conflict with the federal government: physician-assisted suicide and medical marijuana. Do you support those two concepts?" - For our purposes here only the physician-assisted suicide response will be included.]
"I am in favor of palliative medicine in circumstances where someone is terminally ill. ... I'm mindful of the legitimate interests of states to prevent a slide from palliative treatments into euthanasia. On the other hand, I think that the people of Oregon did a service for the country * in recognizing that as the population gets older we've got to think about issues of end-of-life care. ..."
(Quote from the Oregon Independant, 4/7/2008 - link)
* Solidarity Institute gave this quote a RED (being in opposition to Catholic teaching) because of Sen. Obama's choice of the positive word "service" in describing Oregon's example of allowing assisted-suicides in association with "end of life care".
III.
[Town hall meeting in Roseburg, OE on 5/17/08 Sen. Obama made the following comment:] "I can look you in the eye and tell you I will not try to overrule the decision of the people of Oregon." **
(Quote taken from Seattle Times 5/18/08 - link)
** Solidarity Institute gave this quote a YELLOW (being neither directly opposed nor directly promoting Catholic teaching) after making the assumption that Sen. Obama would "not try to overrule the decision" on the grounds that the OE decision's has legal status, assuming nothing of his possible stance either directly for or against assisted-suicides.
IV.
[Sen. Obama in response to the question "Do you think that would be okay, morally?" on the issue of euthanasia for someone in pain.]
video link*
(Excerpts from the "Compassion Forum" at Messiah College on 4/13/2008)
*Solidarity Institute gave the quotes from this video a YELLOW (being neither directly opposed more directly promoting Catholic teaching) because Sen. Obama's response was not specific nor was it a direct answer to the question posed.
OBAMA VOTED...
[Grants jurisdiction to the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida to hear, determine, and render judgment on a suit or claim by or on behalf of Theresa Marie Schiavo (Ms. Schiavo) for the alleged violation of any right of hers under the U.S. Constitution or laws relating to the withholding or withdrawal of food, fluids, or medical treatment necessary to sustain her life (THOMAS - Library or Congress). The act applied only to the parents of Terri Schiavo - not Terri Schiavo herself - and gave federal courts jurisdiction to review alleged violations of her constitutional rights, without regard to prior state court rulings (a review de novo, effectively wiping out the previous decade of litigation) (Wikipedia).]
Sen. Obama voted "yea" in the unanimous Senate vote. However, has clearly and publicly remarked that his vote was "professionally the biggest mistake that I have made."
(For a brief synopsis of Senate Bill 686 from Library of Congress THOMAS - link.)
(For a brief synopsis of the "Palm Sunday Compromise" from Wikipedia - link.)
* Solidarity Institute gave this quote a RED (being in opposition to Catholic teaching) because of Sen. Obama's own public remarks that his vote was a "mistake".
