Right To Life For Fetuses, Aged Are Discussed ‘Who Do We Value In This Society?’ Speaker Asks

About 150 people from across the state gathered in Spokane this weekend for a right-to-life conference, just weeks after a federal appeals court struck down a ban on physician-assisted suicides.

The Washington attorney general’s office announced last Monday it will appeal the ruling. Meanwhile, conference-goers said the decision makes the right-to-life debate increasingly volatile.

“We’re at a crucial time in this battle,” said Leon Billig, of Seattle, who came with his wife, Virginia. “It can still go either way.”

The conference, held at the Red Lion Inn in the Spokane Valley, addressed doctor-assisted suicide and abortion issues, both opposed by Human Life of Washington members. Human Life sponsored the conference.

Dr. Robin Bernhoft, a Seattle physician who opposes doctor-assisted suicide for the terminally ill, spoke about medical ethics, abortion and euthanasia.

“There’s a social justice question here of who do we value in this society?” Bernhoft said. Bernhoft said the legalization of physician-assisted suicide devalues the terminally ill, which he said is wrong.

The convention attracted Spokane’s Mike Decker because it was educational, he said.

The event was the first right-to-life conference Decker has attended. “I started to feel that I should learn more about the subjects rather than be on the sidelines,” Decker said.

The event also was a first for Spokane resident Diane Brown.

“Times are changing and we need to be aware of new verbiage and laws being passed,” Brown said. “I wanted to find out what’s going on in the movement now.”

Others just wanted to reaffirm their beliefs.

“For me, there’s a deep inner conviction that life is precious and we need to protect it,” Virginia Billig said.

Right-to-life groups may soon face a setback on the abortion issue following a bill recently passed by the House. Last week, the House sent a measure to President Clinton which makes it a crime for doctors to perform a highly controversial late-term abortion procedure.

Known in medical circles as intact dilation and extraction, anti-abortionists call the procedure “partial-birth abortion.” The president last week said he would veto the measure.

But representatives of Human Life, who oppose both abortion and doctor-assisted suicide, said they won’t back down whatever the outcome.

“Tomorrow we’ll be working just as hard whether Clinton vetoes or doesn’t veto,” said Ken VanDerhoef, president of the State Human Life.

People also heard from keynote speaker Dr. David Bare, a Yakima gynecologist. Bare once performed abortions, but now says he opposes them.

Bare said he hoped participants would leave the conference with a better understanding of the right-to-life issues.

“This gives people tools and information to go out and be able to say to their neighbors or to their physicians, ‘How does this affect society in a greater sense?”’ Bare said.

Although some people at the conference insisted abortion and physicianassisted suicide are two distinct issues and should be debated separately, others saw the need for the topics to piggy-back on each other.

“We’re talking about the sanctity of life,” said Marcia Tiffany, of Spokane. “You can’t separate the two issues, from conception to the end of life.”

, DataTimes