Do the Terminally Ill Have a Right to Die?

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There is no rational basis upon which the government can properly prevent any individual from choosing to end his own life. Laws banning physician-assisted suicide are supported primarily by religious conservatives who believe that human life is a gift from God, who put us here on earth to carry out His will. They believe that one who "plays God" by causing his own death, or assisting in the death of another, insults his Maker and invites eternal damnation, not to mention divine retribution against the decadent society that permits such sinful behavior.

If a religious conservative contracts a terminal disease, he has a legal right to regard his own God's will as paramount, and to instruct his doctor to stand by and let him suffer, just as long as his body and mind can endure the agony, until the last bitter paroxysm carries him to the grave. But conservatives have no right to force such mindless, medieval misery upon doctors and patients who refuse to regard their precious lives as playthings of a cruel God. The American principle of church-state separation forbids it.

Rational, secular state legislators should proceed without delay--and without taking account of mystical taboos--to recognize and protect an individual’s right to commit suicide with the voluntary assistance of a doctor.