White House Press Secretary Flubs Number of States With Assisted Suicide
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
August 6, 2009
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs has a math problem and it may be similar to the one his boss, President Barack Obama, had during the campaign. Whereas Obama thought he had campaigned in more than 50 states, Gibbs can’t count to two or three — the number of states where assisted suicide is allowed.
Last Tuesday, during his daily press conference, a reporter asked Gibbs about the end-of-life concerns pro-life advocates and patients’ rights groups have about the government-run health care plans in Congress.
Gibbs talked about the lawmakers who have said that the bill promotes euthanasia, and attempted to scoff at that by citing the low number of states that have legalized assisted suicide.
"I mean, there — you have members of Congress standing up saying the bill is — the bill encourages euthanasia, which just, if you’re keeping track at home, is illegal in 49 of 50 states, okay?" Gibbs said. "So the legislation — it’s legal in Oregon, because it passed through a voter initiative — but it’s illegal, okay?"
Gibbs may have been too caught up in the Obama presidential campaign to notice, but the voters of Washington state made it the second to legalize assisted suicide last fall when they approved I-1000.
The Obama spokesman may also have been too busy helping Obama promote the pro-abortion health care bill to notice that Montana is on its way to officially becoming the third to legalize assisted suicide.
A lawsuit in the state has already allowed a portion of it to have de facto euthanasia and the entire state may open its doors to the most permissive pro-assisted suicide status in the nation if the Montana Supreme Court decides next month to overturn the appeal of a lower court ruling that allowed the practice.
Thus, two states, three if the portion of Montana covered under the district court’s pro-suicide ruling is counted, currently allow assisted suicide.
"I think there are people that have knowingly spread information, inaccurate information to hold up progress on health reform," Gibbs concluded in his response to the question. "I think that’s about as obvious as the sun having come up this morning in the east."
For Gibbs, perhaps more obvious than one plus one equaling two.
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