If there's an issue that's more contentious than "right to die" laws, I'm not aware of what that might be. It's an issue that I can somewhat relate to; here's why, and I'm going to tell you. Years ago, we had a good friend who was also our realtor. He helped my wife and me buy our first house in the Denver area, and a year or so later, we learned that he was struck with bone cancer. A several-year ordeal followed, which saw our friend reduced to a wheelchair, with a morphine pump to try to manage the agony. He died, finally, after many painful weeks, and his son told me that by the time his father died, he welcomed the end.
Cases like this are often used to tout for "right to die" laws, and it's not hard to see an emotional argument to be made based on cases like this. But we shouldn't make laws based on emotional considerations or extreme cases. And yet, this seems to be what some states are doing; Illinois' Democrat Governor JB Pritzker has just signed a "right to die" measure into law.
Terminally ill people will have the option to end their own lives with a doctor’s prescription in Illinois next year, under legislation signed by Gov. JB Pritzker on Friday.
Illinois joins 11 other states that have passed so-called right-to-die legislation, which is opposed by many religious leaders and disability rights activists.
Civil liberties advocates hailed Illinois’ law that goes into effect in September 2026 and “will be thoughtfully implemented so that physicians can consult patients on making deeply personal decisions with authority, autonomy and empathy,” according to Pritzker.
“I have been deeply impacted by the stories of Illinoisans or their loved ones that have suffered from a devastating terminal illness, and I have been moved by their dedication to standing up for freedom and choice at the end of life in the midst of personal heartbreak,” Pritzker said in a statement. “Today, Illinois honors their strength and courage by enacting legislation that enables patients faced with debilitating terminal illnesses to make a decision, in consultation with a doctor, that helps them avoid unnecessary pain and suffering at the end of their lives.”
There are a number of problems here.
Read More: HORRIFYING: Lawmakers in Great Britain Have Just Approved a 'State Suicide Service'
She's Gone Now. 29-Year-Old Woman in Perfect Health Ends Her Life With Help of Dutch Government
The first, while I remember my friend and all he went through, is an ethical concern. Health care providers are supposed to adhere to primum non nocere - first, do no harm. That's a standing medical principle that goes back millennia, and while I suppose one could argue that this isn't harm - allowing a dying person a quick exit - I'm skeptical of that.
The second, well, is there anything that a government can't screw up? We've seen, in the cases linked above, where nations in Europe have taken these kinds of laws to an uncomfortable extreme; perfectly physically healthy people with depression or other mental disorders are being offered that final option. That's not reasonable or rational. This strikes one as something that could get well and truly out of control - and in some places, it already has.
Here's the thing: Anyone who really wishes this final out already has it available to them, in their own way, on their own terms, through any number of methods; no law can stop that. But when the state starts making dying easier, when they start making it legally acceptable, it starts changing; it starts being used when it shouldn't. We are seeing it happen, right now, in Europe, in Canada, and maybe soon, in Illinois. That does not bode well for anyone.
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