Yes, I think people should have the right to choose when and how to end their lives (it’s not like we’re not dying anyway… why shouldn’t we be able to exercise some measure of control over it? Why should we act, to the last minute, like death is the worse thing possible, and like it can somehow be avoided, like it shouldn’t be thought of?)
On the other hand… at least so I’ve heard, most people turn to suicide as a way to get out of a situation, or experience, or psychological state that has become particularly unbearable; they’re choosing suicide not because they want death, so much as they want to get away from the pain and can’t see a solution beyond oblivion or whatever is after life… Someone (whose boyfriend committed suicide) indicated to me that suicide is made “illegal” so that government officials can require those who attempt suicide to get help. By not having suicide as a legal right, other people—people who could offer the person other solutions to the pain—can intervene in ways I don’t think they could if it were a right… they can help the person find a less absolute way of dealing with particular pain. If those are the majority cases—people who don’t want to die but don’t see an alternative—maybe it’s better it’s not a right. I have no idea if that is the case or not. But since I’m not an expert on this subject, I don’t want to assume it is—seems like it’s assuming that someone who’s considering suicide can’t possibly be thinking clearly; I think in some cases they might not be (as in everything), and in some cases they might be.
I agree with @johnpowell that punishment doesn’t really work with successful suicide. Legal ramifications no longer exist for someone who is dead.
If—this is purely speculation—if the goal of making suicide illegal is in fact to help people work through issues that might lead them to suicide—it seems like a counterproductive response. Wouldn’t it make people less likely to seek help? At least, when I was in therapy, I didn’t even feel comfortable talking about my feelings on mortality (lest the psychologist interpret it as suicidal tendencies) let alone the times I was imagining ‘what if I did’ without intending to act on the thoughts.
And it might make the ways someone can end their life more dignified (for them, and for their loved ones; after not hearing from her boyfriend for a week, my friend found him hanging in his apartment…). I’m not quite sure how, but I feel like it might.
I can’t help but thing of Amy Bloom’s “Silver Water” when reading this question….