The Inalienable Right to Life: An Update on Assisted Suicide in the United States and Canada

A bipartisan congressional resolution has been introduced by five Republicans and five Democrats to voice opposition to legalizing physician-assisted suicide, which has already become lawful in some states. These legislators seek to prevent euthanasia from gaining a greater foothold in the United States.

The congressional resolution recognizes that physician-assisted suicide devalues our fellow human beings. The resolution is also consistent with the Noahide Laws: seven laws proscribed by G-d to Noah after the Biblical flood, which are applicable to all of humanity. This code of conduct is the foundational premise for the three Abrahamic religions and formed the basis of American civilization as set forth in our founding documents. America’s founding fathers specified that our society was premised on certain inalienable rights given by our Creator, and that those rights are beyond the power of a legislature or the courts to give or to take away.

One basic principle of these Noahide laws and the Ten Commandments subsequently given by G-d is “thou shall not kill.” In the context of the debate over euthanasia, this means that no active intervention may be undertaken to terminate the life of a dying person or of a person not presently dying but suffering from an illness from which he or she may eventually die. Human life has been given to the human in trust and can only be taken away by G-d. Since G-d gives and takes away life, any form of suicide rejects G-d’s sovereignty. Animated by the soul, human life is fashioned by G-d in His image. Protecting and respecting life requires that we follow the universal ethical values of the Abrahamic faiths and reject contemporary secularism’s view that when suffering renders a person’s life burdensome to oneself or to others, that life can and may be disposed of.

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