s to be alleviated", but in fact the American Medical Association said, "Physicians dedicate their lives to the alleviation of suffering, to the enhancement and prolongation of life, and the destinies of humanity". They clearly state the "alleviation of suffering" before "the enhancement and prolongation of life". So if the reduction of pain would mean letting the person pass on, why would that be wrong and unethical? They also claim euthanasia is a "breach of the laws of humanity", what about the laws of nature? These laws were established long before mankind. Humanity breached the laws of nature, long before the "laws of humanity" were broken, with advances like respirators. People are the ones upsetting the balance of nature when they try to keep persons alive who are supposed to die. The planet has survived for a long time without the laws of humanity, so what makes them right? (Schofield, 1988, p. 26)Opponents also claim that euthanasia is against God, therefore it is unethical. Yet passive euthanasia, or refraining from doing anything to keep the patient alive, has been in practice since four centuries before Christ; and in the centuries that followed neither the Christians nor the Jews significantly changed this basic idea. It was killing they were opposed to. Also in 1958 Pope Pius XII emphasized that we may 'allow the patient who is virtually already dead to pass away in peace' (Rachels, 1986, p. 43). How can anybody say mercy is against God? To me it would seem that God would want people to die in peace and without pain. If anything is against God it is trying to live longer than God had intended you to.The United States was founded because people wanted to be free. Americans have fought for freedom ever since. If euthanasia is made illegal it will take away one of the founding freedoms, the freedom of choice, the freedom for a person to choose a death with dignity and free of pain and suffering for themselves and their famili...
