Shouldn't the right to die be a human right?

[Catholic_Lady]

Why is my faith being brought into discussion? I specifically said this isn't about my faith.

Because it is your belief in the sacredness of life that impels you to draw a hard line, right?

When someone is depressed and wants to die, I think as a society we should strive to save them, not help them go through with hurting themselves. To me, this seems like a human thing, not a specifically religious thing.

Of course. Maybe you should then define what you mean by "hard line", especially in this context.

When we thought one of our friends from here was going to kill themselves, we called the cops on him to stop it from happening. We didn't sit around and say "oh well you know, let him do as he will. Ito none of our business. I hope someone is there to help him do it successfully." No, we tried to save him. And consisering this is an atheist forum, no one involved except myself was religious.

Of course. But this discussion is not about what friends do for or with each other. This discussion is about legal rights.

I'd like to think I would have concern for human life and think that it was valuable and worth fighting for, even if I didn't believe it was inherently sacred.

Just because someone isn't my friend, doesn't mean I can't hold the position that we should, as a society, treat suicidal people in such a way as to save them and get them help rather than stay out of it and make it legal for others to assist them in hurting themselves.

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Oh, and what I was saying was that I think there should be a hard line when it comes to legalizing assisted suicide, and that the hard line should be that it's only available for the terminally ill or those who are debilitated.

It has nothing to do with religion, since personally/religiously I feel as though even that wouldn't be right, but don't think it should be illegal.