Senator Kruse Betrays His Constituents, Votes for Senate Bill 494
Salem, Ore–Today Senator Jeff Kruse, who has long been endorsed by Oregon Right to Life PAC as being “pro-life,” put an end to his pro-life ethic. Disregarding more than a thousand emails and phone calls from his own constituents, as well as detailed conversations with Oregon Right to Life lobbyists, Senator Kruse voted in favor of SB 494.
SB 494, a carefully crafted bill written by insurance lobbyists and right-to-die proponents, will allow surrogates to withhold food and hydration from mentally ill and dementia patients. Senator Kruse steadfastly maintained there was a lot of “misinformation” being spread about the bill, intimating that the misinformation was coming from Oregon Right to Life. Oregon Right to Life’s lawyers, as well as many other lawyers, have carefully scrutinized the bill and stand by the intent of the bill: to change the power of the surrogate from NOT being able to remove food and water from a conscious, non-dying patient to now being able to make that deadly decision.
“Senator Kruse has abandoned his pro-life principles and betrayed his constituents who voted for him on that basis,” said Gayle Atteberry, Oregon Right to Life executive director. “We regret that Senator Kruse was the only Republican who chose to listen to anti-life Senate Democrats instead of his own constituents.”
