Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Weeks ago, pro-abortion presidential candidate Barack Obama infamously said the question of when human life begins is “above my pay grade” as a seeker of the White House. Judging from Obama’s evasive answer on the question of assisted suicide, it appears euthanasia was above his pay grade as well.

In a March interview with the Mail Tribune, Obama wouldn’t give a clear answer about whether he supports assisted suicide or Oregon’s first-in-the-nation decision to legalize the grisly practice.

“I am in favor of palliative medicine in circumstances where someone is terminally ill,” he said. “… I'm mindful of the legitimate interests of states to prevent a slide from palliative treatments into euthanasia.”

At the same time, Obama appeared to praise Oregon for legalizing assisted suicide without expressly saying he supports the decision.

“I think that the people of Oregon did a service for the country in recognizing that as the population gets older we've got to think about issues of end-of-life care,” he said.

Wesley J. Smith, a noted attorney and author who is a bioethics watchdog, pointed out what he says is an attempt on Obama’s part to get away with not answering the question.

“It is a complete straddle, which is a disappointment given the import of the issue,” Smith says. “Now, I note that there is an ellipses at the end of the answer, which might have edited out a more definitive response. But I doubt it, since a more definitive response would be newsworthy.”

“This answer is along the lines of Obama's ‘above my pay grade’ punt about when human rights attach at the Saddleback Church,” Smith said. “Such wiggling may be politically smart, but it is also not leadership.”

Obama came under significant criticism in February when he said in a Democratic debate that his biggest mistake was voting with a unanimous Senate to help save Terri Schiavo.

Terri is the disabled Florida woman whose husband won the legal right to starve her to death.

In March 2005, just weeks before Terri died from a painful 14-day starvation and dehydration death, Congress approved legislation allowing her family to take its case

from state courts to federal courts in an effort to stop the euthanasia from proceeding.
Terri was not on any artificial breathing apparatus and only required a feeding tube to eat and drink. Her family had filed a lawsuit against her former husband to allow them to care for her and give her proper medical and rehabilitative care.

The Senate unanimously approved a compromise bill, which the House eventually supported on a lopsided bipartisan vote and President Bush signed, to help the disabled woman.

Obama said he should have stood up against the life-saving legislation.

“It wasn't something I was comfortable with, but it was not something that I stood on the floor and stopped,” Obama said.

“And I think that was a mistake, and I think the American people understood that that was a mistake. And as a constitutional law professor, I knew better,” he added.

Obama also addressed end-of-life issues during the faith debate at Messiah College in April.

Obama was asked about patients who "wanted to take active steps to end his or her own life."

Obama said society has to be "very careful in making end-of-life decisions" and he promoted patients having a living will to register their treatment choices.

The Illinois senator said he wanted to make sure patients can relieve their own pain but said that opened up other questions.

"What happens then is you start getting into a gray area where relieving pain and suffering may accelerate death in some situations and that's a decision that should be made by the individual, the family and the doctor," he said.

"I don't think that it's appropriate to empower doctors themselves to make that decision," he added, appearing to oppose involuntary euthanasia.

Yet, Obama, like Clinton, appeared noncommittal on the assisted suicide question, and again repeated he wanted terminally ill patients to be able to control their pain -- something the pro-life community has never opposed.

Asked in a follow-up if that meant he would be open to patients hastening the end of their lives, he said that has to be distinguished from euthanasia.

"I think that there has to be very strict guidelines to ensure that somebody who is making a decision to relieve their pain that might take a week away from their life just because they are -- they are slipping into a coma quicker, for example," Obama said.

"That that is distinguished from -- or at least there's a possibility that they slip into a coma. That that's distinguished from euthanasia in which someone else is making the decision for them," he concluded.

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