Prepare for the public debate on assisted suicide

Jan 2

Jordan Reid Author; Founding Editor, Ramshackle Glam

By Straight Arrow News

Assisted suicide is a controversial new subject in political debates around the world. Modern medical technologies enable humans to end their own lives quickly and painlessly, with dignity and on their own schedule, which advocates say is often a better option than spending many years suffering in debilitating pain from terminal, uncurable illnesses. Two-thirds of Americans say they support legalizing doctor-assisted suicide in these cases, but it is currently legal in only 10 U.S. states or territories. Critics say that the government should not be legalizing or facilitating patient suicide, whether doctor-assisted or not, regardless of which conditions a patient may or may not have.

Watch the above video as Straight Arrow News contributor Jordan Reid reviews the case of an American woman who chose to have an assisted suicide procedure done in Switzerland, and how she sees the future of the debate around assisted suicide unfolding here in the U.S.

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The following is an excerpt from the above video:

I’ve always been fascinated by the debate around assisted suicide, largely because it’s so perplexing to me why anyone feels like they have a right to control another person’s body to that extent… but then I remembered that we’re living in the “your body, my choice” era. So it tracks.

This debate is once again in the international spotlight, because last year the Sarco pod — its name derives from the word “sarcophagus” — was used in Switzerland, where assisted suicide is legal, to facilitate the death of a 64-year-old American woman. What makes this pod different is that the chemicals that result in rapid unconsciousness and death are self-administered – the individual must initiate the actions that result in their death themselves.

And yet in the recent case, onlookers and those involved with the setup of the pod were arrested following the American woman’s death. Authorities, it seems — and this makes sense — simply couldn’t parse the tremendous ethical and legal complexities associated with such a truly unprecedented development.

Happy New Year! Let’s talk about assisted suicide.

I’ve always been fascinated by the debate around assisted suicide, largely because it’s so perplexing to me why anyone feels like they have a right to control another person’s body to that extent…but then I remembered that we’re living in the “your body, my choice” era. So it tracks.

This debate is once again in the international spotlight because last year the Sarco pod – its name derives from the word “sarcophagus” – was used in Switzerland, where assisted suicide is legal, to facilitate the death of a 64-year-old American woman. What makes this pod different is that the chemicals that result in rapid unconsciousness and death are self-administered – the individual must initiate the actions that result in their death themselves.

And yet in the recent case, onlookers and those involved with the setup of the pod were arrested following the American woman’s death. Authorities, it seems – and this makes sense – simply couldn’t parse the tremendous ethical and legal complexities associated with such a truly unprecedented development.

Now, attitudes towards assisted suicide don’t fall precisely along political party lines; beliefs tend to be shaped more by cultural and religious contexts. But when looking at the arguments against the legalization of assisted suicide, many of them sound…familiar. Assisted suicide is sinful, and violates the sanctity of life. The state has a duty to protect life.

Which, of course. Life is precious, and should be protected. Those who are ill or in distress should be counseled, not discarded. Of course.

But when I think about the women – more and more of them, these days – who can’t secure themselves potentially life-saving abortions, women who can’t access healthcare that they require because of their unique individual circumstances that truly, nobody should be commenting on save for themselves and their doctors…it feels to me that as the procedure becomes more and more popular and accepted on the international level, the right taking up the anti-assisted-suicide mantle is fairly inevitable.

I simply cannot see right-wing politicians affording others the right to determine what to do with their bodies and selves, even in extreme circumstances…because that hasn’t been the case so far.

This is a dark topic, obviously, and I don’t want to bring anyone down. But it’s pretty fascinating to me how much the issue of bodily autonomy seems to have become a hard pass for the right. And it’ll be fascinating to see where else these leanings take us. Not in a good way. But it’ll be something.