(2006-01-18) — Yesterday’s 6-3 Supreme Court ruling that blocks the federal government from using an anti-drug law to punish physicians who prescribe fatal doses of medication to suicidal patients, also updates the high court’s Roe v. Wade decision.
The modification to the 1973 ruling, which made abortion legal, draws from Oregon’s assisted-suicide law to require that doctors get a second opinion, and written authorization from the soon-to-be-deceased patient before performing an abortion.
“Far be it from the Supreme Court ever to usurp the right of the people to rule themselves through their state legislatures,” Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wrote for the majority in Gonzales v. Oregon (PDF), rebuking the U.S. Justice Department. “Therefore, we simply endorse the wisdom of the citizens of Oregon in protecting the right of self-determination for people near the end of life, and we now apply the same legal logic to people near the start of life.”
The court left implementation to state legislatures, however, Justice Kennedy wrote, “if the physician cannot immediately secure permission from a fetus to carry out the intra-uterine assisted suicide, prudence dictates that a beating heart signals a bias for life.”
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