Everybody should have able to leave this world with dignity and at a time of their own choosing. We take pity on pets and horses. We wouldn't think of making our dog suffer with a terminal illness, but we should? Are we so in love with misery that we think we deserve weeks or months of torment before we die There's something grotesque about any government believing it has a right to say you can't die at the time and in the manner of your choosing. There's nothing awful about death. Death comes after the awful part. No one has the right to tell someone else that they have to suffer. I've carted around too many living corpses and people who should objectively wish for death. At a minimum, if we have authority over anything else, we ought to have dominion over our own lives and how they end. Legalization will lead to more widely available means of exit with minimal suffering; when suicide is illegal, people with terminal illnesses or reaching the end of their lifespan sometimes resort to methods that can be quite grisly, and often have to die alone for fear of being reported. In practice, I have concern that the system may be abused. Ideally a physician will be present to make sure that properly informed consent is taking place and that the person choosing to exit is not acting under duress in any way. I hate to say it, but people become very cruel when it comes to inheritance and estates, and there will be less than pure motives for some family members looking to move things along. I believe that people who are opposed to euthanasia should be automatically denied any pain killers at the end of their lives. We can film them wriggling in agony and send the videos to their family members. The audio should be elevated so all the family can hear them scream in pain. These idiots can then pray for him. Euthanasia is illegal for economic, religious and political reasons and we should fight for the right to die painlessly, quickly and peacefully. No pun intended, this is a hill on which I'm willing do die. The right to end your own life painlessly and without external interference is a human right we all should absolutely have. The idea that we have to get seriously ill and suffer for months if not years until our body finally decides to give out is not acceptable. It is also a money-making scheme from the healthcare industry and government. The more they can stretch out serious illness before death, the more money they make. The more they can keep you alive to pay taxes, the more money the government makes. Religion aids this by stating that taking your own life is a first-class ticket to hell. Suicide should not be so difficult that you have to worry about whether you will not end up killing yourself, but possibly end up with brain damage or other complications from a failed attempt. Suicide should also not exempt life insurance companies from paying out once a person is dead. The entire system is set up to discourage someone from making the personal, rational, and final decision to take their own life - which is the only thing in this world that truly, 100% belongs to the person. Religion instills guilt and fear in order to prevent this, stating that the person is going to hell, and that your "soul" doesn't belong to you, it belongs to God. This is just another excuse to not allow people to make their own end of life decision. Not allowing birth control is another method of religious control and overreach as well. How many people would have rather not been born into the poverty, violent surroundings and disease that they are born into due to forced birth? It's another issue, but related. How many people trapped in elder care in horrible facilities and/or living in poverty and illness would be better served by letting them decide to end their life of their own volition? Maybe some are mentally ill and should not be entrusted with that decision, but the choice should be available to those of sound mind. It should not take someone having to buy a gun and blow their brains out, or hanging themselves, or all of these other barbaric methods to end one's life. There should be dignity in this choice somewhere, somehow. There should be a painless and non-trauma inducing way to end your life if you want to. Loved ones should not have to discover a death scene with a huge mess and a scene they will never be able to forget. One should be able to discuss the option with a doctor, end-of-life counselor or others trained to both help a person either move away from suicide or to complete it. It should not take a lethal illness to justify it, and it should not be traumatizing for the family of those who choose to do so.

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