Normalizing Assisted Suicide Will Lead to a Duty to Die | National Review
Euthanasia isn t really about compassion but fear of decline and a loathing of dependency and of those experiencing them.
That nasty truth has become abundantly clear with a new column published in the Times of London in which former Tory MP Matthew Parris argues that euthanasia/assisted suicide should not only be permitted but encouraged. In We Can t Afford a Taboo on Assisted Dying, he writes (my emphasis):
I can t dispute the objectors belief that once assisted dying becomes normalized we will become more apt to ask yourselves for how much longer we can justify the struggle.
The word justify is telling. It does not only concern the suffering of the person who is ill, disabled, or elderly but the suffering that person is supposedly causing to family and society. Parris believes that, eventually, for such a person to continue to live will be considered unjustifiable:
Is life still giving us more pleasure than pain? How much is all this costing relatives and the health service? How much of a burden are we placing on those who love us? How much of a burden are we placing on ourselves? . . .
This duty will only be imposed on those without funds to get themselves cured or get a few more months or years of life. Perhaps if we’re going this direction, we should phase it in.