Human Life Group Brings State Convention To Spokane Organization Opposes Abortion, Physician-Assisted Suicide

Dr. Robin Bernhoft, a Seattle physician who opposes doctor-assisted suicide for the terminally ill, will speak Saturday at the Human Life of Washington convention in Spokane.

The convention, which begins Friday evening at the Spokane Valley Red Lion Inn, will address physician-assisted suicide as well as abortion. Both are opposed by Human Life of Washington members.

“We try to express that life is a precious gift from the moment of conception until natural death,” said Hope Braun, office director for Right to Life of Spokane.

The Washington attorney general’s office announced Monday it will appeal a recent federal court ruling which permits doctor-assisted suicide.

Bernhoft will present two workshops on physician-assisted suicide Saturday.

On Friday evening, Dr. David Bare will speak. Bare is a Yakima gynecologist who once performed abortions, but now opposes them.

Other speakers will be U.S. Rep. Linda Smith, R-Wash., who has a conservative Christian agenda, and Ken VanDerhoef, president of Human Life of Washington.

More than 100 people are expected to attend from Washington state and North Idaho.

Other workshops will be presented Saturday on such topics as post-abortion counseling, medical ethics and political lobbying.

Human Life is the educational arm of the anti-abortion movement, providing information and speakers on abortion and euthanasia. The group advocates for adoption as the alternative to abortion, and opposes birth control.

“The only form of birth control we do recommend is abstinence,” Braun said.

For more information, call 747-6678.

, DataTimes