Quote:
Originally Posted by Meteor
Yusuf06 said that suicide should be a matter of individual freedom. My counter-point, perhaps weakly explained, was that society regularly restricts and deprives individuals of their individual freedoms. I used the mother's right to an abortion as an example. The reasons that we restrict those rights is irrelevant. The fact is, we as a society condone restricting the individual rights and freedoms of the pregnant female.
We also restrict the individual freedom to drive 100 MPH in a 25 MPH school zone. We restrict the individual right and freedom to not pay taxes. We restrict the individual right and freedom to terminate the life of someone you disagree with. We restrict the right for you to drive your motorcycle without your helmet on. The federal, state, and local laws are overflowing with restrictions to individual rights and freedoms. The right to commit suicide is just one of them.
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I think you've generalized a bit too much. I was referring to a very strictly defined case-terminally ill patients. While I don't have a huge problem with abortion, I think it's something of a stretch to compare a terminally ill person trying to have a dignified, less painful death with a woman terminating the life of another "person" (assuming you consider a fetus as such).
I hold life as sacred as any of you do. That's why I have such strong feelings about the right of an individual facing a terminal illness to end life on their own terms and in a way that is dignified and as painless as possible.
With regard to society's need to restrict individual liberties, in general "free" countries only restrict individual rights as a last resort to protect the greater good of society at-large. I think most or all of us would be hard pressed to explain how society at-large is damaged in any
concrete way when an individual decides to take his/her own life due to the overwhelming pain/disability of a terminal illness.