In 2022, after a doctor from Washington sued Oregon over the state's residency requirement for people seeking assisted suicide, Ellen Rosenblum, Oregon's attorney general, agreed – without going to court – to drop the requirement.
Lois Anderson of Oregon Right to Life says that decision is pending until the legislature codifies that change.
"That's where we're at right now. We have this bill that repeals the residency requirement, and that's supposed to be a part of this lawsuit," she tells AFN. "But the legislature wasn't a party to the lawsuit, so we're making the argument with the legislators that they don't have to do this; they can keep the residency requirement in place."
At the request of former Governor Kate Brown (D), changes to the Death with Dignity Act (HB 2279) have been introduced in the House and Senate.
"It goes further than taking away the residency requirement and also removes a 15-day waiting period … so you only have to wait 48 hours, amongst other things," Anderson details. "It's basically a death on demand, death tourism bill."
While anecdotal reports say patients have come from as far away as Texas for assisted suicide, there are no official stats on how many people are coming to Oregon from other states to end their lives. Anderson recently told a local news outlet that expanding the already dangerous law is "a solution to a problem that doesn't exist."
