The Fallacy of "Assisted" Suicide

I read an article in The Objective Standard (TOS) blog yesterday about assisted suicide. The article, written by Ari Armstrong, concluded that conservatives, by opposing assisted suicide, were imposing conservative values on those people in this country that are not conservative. Unfortunately for Mr. Armstrong he fails to understand that there is no such thing as "assisted" suicide. Only euthanasia. The articles in TOS and the TOS blog have a tendency to be shallow and when I read about any issue in the TOS or the TOS blog I look for deeper cultural and philosophical foundations. As I was thinking about the article in question the phrase "assisted suicide" struck me as odd. Upon further reflection I realized that it was the word "assisted" that bothered me. When I thought about it I realized that there is no such thing as "assisted" suicide. Suicide is the taking of one's own life. Homicide is the taking of another's life. If one helps a person to die then one is in effect taking that person's life and therefore committing homicide. The homicide may be euthanasia rather than manslaughter or murder but it is still homicide. The cultural/political question then becomes not whether "assisted" suicide should be legal but whether euthanasia should be legal. Further, it may be that libertarians/objectivists are right and that one does own one's own body and therefore has a right to do with it as one pleases including committing suicide, however one does not have a "right" to be "assisted" in such an endeavor: To force another person to commit homicide. You're welcome

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