Euthanasia weighs evenly on U.S. morality scale
Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 6/27/2010 4:10:00 AMGallup's most recent "Values and Beliefs" survey shows an even split among Americans on the issue of doctor-assisted suicide.

While Americans find abortion morally wrong by a 50-to-38 percent margin, the poll shows they are split evenly (46% to 46%) when it comes to euthanasia. Rita Marker, president of the International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide (ITF), explains that does not mean more people are siding with proponents of assisted suicide.

"Two years ago, 51 percent found it to be morally acceptable. It's gone down five percentage points," she reports. "The same way in 2008: 44 percent thought it was wrong; now 46 percent think it's wrong. So since 2003, it has not been this much of a drop."

That means that over the past seven years, fewer people are finding the practice acceptable. Marker points out that there were higher rates for doctor-assisted suicide in previous polls when the question was acceptability on the basis of pain when nothing further could be done for a terminal illness.

"But...none of the proposals that have been presented ever have said people have to be in pain," she points out. "When people begin to recognize...that it's just a diagnosis -- or as I say, misdiagnosis -- of a prediction on how long they have to live, that's the only thing that's required. It doesn't have anything to do with pain."

So she concludes that this "misdiagnosis" has led people down a slippery slope to suicide for no legitimate reason. For example, people in Europe obtain help to end their lives for depression, which can be treated. Likewise, a spouse choosing to die at the same time their ailing mate commits suicide may seek assisted suicide.


But realizing the divide among Americans on pro-life issues, advocates are working to change the hearts and minds by insisting that issues be framed properly.