Title: BBC - Ethics - Euthanasia: Anti-euthanasia arguments
Headings: Anti-euthanasia arguments
Anti-euthanasia arguments
On this page
Overview of anti-euthanasia arguments
Ethical arguments
Practical arguments
Historical arguments
Religious arguments
Against the will of God
The value of suffering
The religious attitude to suffering
The nature of suffering
Dying is good for us
Eastern religions
A non-religious view
The nature of suffering
Sanctity of life
We are valuable for ourselves
We must respect our own value
The slippery slope
Various forms of the slippery slope argument
Devalues some lives
The disabled person's perspective
Opposition to this argument
Patient's best interests
Other people have rights too
Proper palliative care
Making things better for patient, family and friends
Spiritual care
Palliative care and euthanasia
Legalising euthanasia may reduce the availability of palliative care
When palliative care is not enough
Fears about regulation
It gives doctors too much power
Pressure on the vulnerable
The pressure of feeling a burden
Pressure from family and others
Financial pressure

Content: Ethical arguments
Euthanasia weakens society's respect for the sanctity of life
Accepting euthanasia accepts that some lives (those of the disabled or sick) are worth less than others
Voluntary euthanasia is the start of a slippery slope that leads to involuntary euthanasia and the killing of people who are thought undesirable
Euthanasia might not be in a person's best interests
Euthanasia affects other people's rights, not just those of the patient
Practical arguments
Proper palliative care makes euthanasia unnecessary
There's no way of properly regulating euthanasia
Allowing euthanasia will lead to less good care for the terminally ill
Allowing euthanasia undermines the committment of doctors and nurses to saving lives
Euthanasia may become a cost-effective way to treat the terminally ill
Allowing euthanasia will discourage the search for new cures and treatments for the terminally ill
Euthanasia undermines the motivation to provide good care for the dying, and good pain relief
Euthanasia gives too much power to doctors
Euthanasia exposes vulnerable people to pressure to end their lives
Moral pressure on elderly relatives by selfish families
Moral pressure to free up medical resources
Patients who are abandoned by their families may feel euthanasia is the only solution
Historical arguments
Voluntary euthanasia is the start of a slippery slope that leads to involuntary euthanasia and the killing of people who are thought undesirable
Religious arguments
Euthanasia is against the word and will of God
Euthanasia weakens society's respect for the sanctity of life
Suffering may have value
Voluntary euthanasia is the start of a slippery slope that leads to involuntary euthanasia and the killing of people who are thought undesirable
Top
Against the will of God
Religious people don't argue that we can't kill ourselves, or get others to do it. They know that we can do it because God has given us free will. Their argument is that it would be wrong for us to do so. They believe that every human being is the creation of God, and that this imposes certain limits on us. Our lives are not only our lives for us to do with as we see fit. To kill oneself, or to get someone else to do it for us, is to deny God, and to deny God's rights over our lives and his right to choose the length of our lives and the way our lives end. The value of suffering
Religious people sometimes argue against euthanasia because they see positive value in suffering. Down through the centuries and generations it has been seen that in suffering there is concealed a particular power that draws a person interiorly close to Christ, a special grace. Pope John Paul II: Salvifici Doloris, 1984
The religious attitude to suffering
Most religions would say something like this: