Euthanasia advocates claim it gives individuals greater autonomy and control. In reality, legalising euthanasia extends the bureaucratic control of life from the cradle to the grave. Acts of profound personal, moral and cultural significance are reduced to an administrative process, normalising and destigmatising suicide and medical killing.
This report examines campaigns to legalise euthanasia across Europe and their implications in terms of the devaluation of human life.
Key findings
- Language games · Euthanasia is often discussed euphemistically, with advocates using phrases such as ‘death with dignity’ in order to prejudice public discussions in their favour. This deliberate obfuscation deflects attention from the profound moral, cultural and ethical implications of the debate.
- Cross-national manoeuvres · Advocates of euthanasia strategically target states where they have a greater chance of changing the law. They then frame success in these areas as a result of a ‘sea change’ in European public opinion and use it to press other countries to follow suit.
- Foot-in-the-door strategy · Euthanasia advocates often begin by promising that legalisation will be strictly limited, with stringent safeguards to prevent abuse. However, this is a deliberate foot-in-the-door strategy from those pursuing far more radical changes. They soon seek to expand the domain of legislation to offer euthanasia to new groups, including those suffering from less-severe conditions. The result is to normalise and destigmatise suicide, encouraging euthanasia as a routine option, perhaps even the preferred one.
- The empowering of bureaucracy, not people · Legalised euthanasia transforms the power to make decisions over life and death into a bland administrative process. Far from empowering individuals, euthanasia laws normalise a framework in which life-ending decisions are made under the control of state apparatuses – not as acts of personal freedom, but as bureaucratic procedures. When death becomes a box-ticking exercise, we find ourselves distanced from the profound moral magnitude of suicide and death.
- Devaluation of human life · The legalisation and expansion of euthanasia policies in Europe reflect a growing misanthropic outlook. This makes it difficult to defend the value of all human life in the face of veiled (and sometimes naked) claims that some lives are unworthy and burdensome. T his further erodes the value of human life as a cornerstone of democratic societies.
- Suicide should be stigmatised · Legalisation of euthanasia removes the stigma surrounding killing and suicide. These stigmas are not simply arbitrary judgments. They reflect the profundity of issues of life and death. Normalising euthanasia fundamentally changes society’s attitude to death. We should uphold the stigma surrounding suicide and oppose state-approved killing.
- The importance of sovereignty · Any moves in the European Union toward top-down impositions and convergence or harmonisation of legalised euthanasia undermine national sovereignty and cultural diversity. Imposing legalised euthanasia can also lead to ethical disasters in places where such policies are incompatible with local values.
