My Column Criticizing Assisted Suicide
I wrote a column against AB 651, which would legalize Oregon-style assisted suicide, in today's Orange County Register. There is nothing particularly new in this piece. But repetition is the key to prevailing in today's public policy debates. And, I think, it is a good, succinct view of why opposing assisted suicide is the right course. If this issue interests you, check it out. (Registration may be required.)
posted by Wesley J. Smith @ 1:15 PM
2 Comments
2 Comments:
Rights are not obligations/duties.
I have a right to smoke or drink. I do neither.
As an Oregonian, I'd like to keep my right to die.
Arguing to take a right away because it could be used to commit murder ignores that it's already illegal to commit murder. Anybody attempting to use another legality to commit an illegal act is still violating the law. Having two laws for one illegal act is absurd, and in fact, it violates the concept of justice and the principle of double jeopardy.
You don't ban cars because they enable you to do illegal things easier. That's just as absurd as your reasoning.
How do you solve the problem of people possibly abusing the law? Prosecute murderers when they do it. I know it sounds simple, but it works. Your solution is so broad that it takes away rights that, when used to their intent, harm nobody.
Seth: Thanks for coming by. Actually, you don't have a right to die. You have a right to ask for an overdose if you are terminally ill. Doctors don't have to give it. They shouldn't. Hopefully, someday Oregon will rescind the law. In the meantime, many of us are working to keep it from spreading beyond Oregon's borders.
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