A recent Lifeway Research survey reveals that 51% of Americans now believe that a terminally ill person should be able to ask a doctor to help end their life. While support for physician-assisted suicide is growing in some quarters, organisations like the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) are clear that this trend undermines the intrinsic value of every human life and poses grave risks to vulnerable people.
SPUC’s core philosophy is that every life counts, from conception to natural death, and that the law, medical ethics, and public policy should defend the inviolability of human dignity. From SPUC’s viewpoint, legalising physician-assisted suicide, even with “safeguards”, sends a message that some lives, especially those burdened by terminal illness, disability, or frailty, are implicitly less worthy or more expendable.
One concern SPUC highlights is pressure, whether explicit or subtle, that such laws may place on those who are ill, elderly, or disabled. In jurisdictions where assisted suicide is legal, many individuals cite reasons like a perceived burden on family or caregivers as part of the motivation for ending their lives. This dynamic can lead to choice being influenced not purely by personal autonomy, but by fear, guilt, or socio-economic pressures.
Another issue is that proposed legal “safeguards” tend to assumedly protect all parties but often fail under real world conditions. SPUC has submitted evidence warning that definitions of “terminal illness”, competency, or mental health may be weak or inconsistently applied. There is also concern such laws might erode palliative care provision: if death becomes a legally sanctioned option, investment in pain relief, hospice, psychological and spiritual care may be deprioritised.
SPUC notes the danger in framing assisted suicide as compassion. Genuine compassion does not shorten life but accompanies people in suffering, alleviating pain where possible, supporting dignity, and ensuring no one feels they are alone or unloved. The growing support noted by Lifeway’s survey, where just 21% strongly agree that physician-assisted suicide is morally acceptable, with many more uncertain or quietly uneasy about it, shows that the moral consensus is far from settled.
As debates in parliaments intensify SPUC calls on lawmakers to choose care over killing: to strengthen palliative services, to ensure robust legal protections, and to uphold the idea that every human life, however frail, is precious.
