EUTHANASIA

I think we can all agree that Euthanasia is a bit of a delicate subject but one that I am sure we all differ strongly in our opinions of. It may be something not as close, and currently relevant to us in every day experiance but still equally important.

Euthanasia is currently illegal in the UK, but I want to argue that I think it should be legalised and this is for one simple (ish) reason:

We have the right to life

If we have the right to life we should in theory, have the right to end our own life.

So: We should have the right to end our life.

If somone has an illness that reduces the quality of their life, then who are we to force them to live a life that clearly they feel is not worth living. Imagine losing your memory, or perhaps losing your ability to control your body. For all of us we can conjure up some way or other in which would be our own personal living hell. In this sort of situation I believe that that individual should have the right to decide what happens to them- whether that be to continue having the right to their life, or instead acting on the right to end their life.

Perhaps this argument stands, however I know that many might argue against this on the basis that taking someone or somethings life is murder. In any situation in which someone deliberately ends someones life- take for example a terrorist killing thousands of innocent lives, is completely wrong. Ending someone's life is removing the right to life, and this as murder must be wrong.

However I believe there to be a difference between cold-blooded murder and the helping of someone remove their pain and suffering.

Murder is the ending of a person's life where the victim hasn't consented. They have 'stolen' in some sense the rest of their life. Euthanasia on the other hand is consentual, or even more so if that is possible. The individual has requested to end their life, and that cannot therefore be compared to the same consequences of murder.