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From: garry@batcomputer.TN.CORNELL.EDU (Garry Wiegand)
Newsgroups: net.suicide,net.legal,net.religion
Subject: Re: Painless Suicide Methods: Are we discussing an illegal topic?
Message-ID: <430@batcomputer.TN.CORNELL.EDU>
Date: Thu, 20-Mar-86 19:33:16 EST
Article-I.D.: batcompu.430
Posted: Thu Mar 20 19:33:16 1986
Date-Received: Sat, 22-Mar-86 22:32:23 EST
Reply-To: garry%cadif-oak@cu-arpa.cornell.edu.arpa
Followup-To: net.suicide
Organization: Cornell Engineering && Flying Moose Graphics
Lines: 33
Xref: watmath net.suicide:916 net.legal:3153 net.religion:9743

Why on earth is suicide still illegal??? 

Morally, it seems similar to the abortion controversy in that there is
a right to privacy and control of oneself that is opposed to a societal
view that "this is a bad thing."  Is it the religious view that "suicide
is murder [of yourself]" just as it is said "abortion is murder [of the
fetus]"??  What is the theological rationale?  (Are there Western/
Christian religions that hold it *not* to be a sin?)

Legally, it seems silly.  Do (presumably unsuccessful) suiciders *ever*
get prosecuted in the United States?  If not, why is there a law on the
subject?  Is there any state in which the law reckons an attempted
suicide as an automatic proof of insanity (as opposed to reckoning it
a crime?)  Is there any state in which suicide is legal?

What is the moral and legal status of someone who *abets* a suicide?
Is suicide itself a legal crime just so assistants (doctors, relatives, etc)
can be prosecuted under the statutes relating to "aiding the commission 
of a felony"?  Are there states in which the act itself is legal but aiding
in it is not?  Vice versa?  And is there any theological distinction between 
suiciding and aiding a suicide?

Lastly, does anyone have personal experience with the long arm of the law?

I'm interested because to me the illegality of suicide seems like a
civil-rights question -- one that's never been addressed by liberal
politics.

I'm posting this to net.suicide, net.legal, and net.religion, and I'm
directing followups to net.suicide.

garry wiegand
garry%cadif-oak@cu-arpa.cs.cornell.edu