The Real Reason Why Suicide is Morally Wrong

In 2021, Canada expanded the eligibility requirements to its MAID program. Contrary to its name, the MAID program is not a actually true "medical" service, rather, it stands for "Medical Assistance In Dying." 

Canadian lawmakers have decided to expand this "medical" form of execution to non-terminal cases, which can range from chronic pain, depression, and even simply being homeless. 

It seems that Canada has decided that rather than having its citizens push through the low points in life, it'd be better simply to put them down like dogs.

Now as of 2025, more than 76,000 Canadians have chosen to end their lives in this manner. 5% of these cases are in the latter category (not having terminal illness), meaning 3,800 Canadians would likely still be alive today had this assisted suicide program not been expanded.

And yes, make no mistake, Canada's MAID program is indeed an assisted SUICIDE program, despite the euphemisms given to it. But rather than discuss this particular case further, I want to shed light on exactly WHY I believe this is wrong. 

After all, if a consenting adult choses to end their OWN life medically, why shouldn't they be able to make that choice? 

In a truly free society, shouldn't the populus be allowed to choose what to do with their own lives, even if that means removing it entirely?

My answer to this, of course, is a resounding "No." And I'll try my best to explain why.

The Problem With "Consent"

The core component of the "pro-suicide" side in this case is the factor of "consent." That's why I'd assume the opposing side wouldn't allow minors to have the "choice" to end their lives (and I certainly hope I'm not wrong). 

But the issue is that even adults can't truly "consent" to death. By definition, a perfectly healthy adult choosing to die wouldn't be in the right state of mind. And if you think I'm wrong, lets take this example:

If you saw a man standing at the edge of a building ready to jump off and end it all, you wouldn't stand by idly and wait for the bloody mess to happen, knowing that the man "consented" and made his own choice to self-delete. 

No sane person would even encourage and comfort him in his own potentially self-destructive choice. If such a person did, you'd be horrified, as well you should be. 

And with Canada expanding assisted suicide "medical care" to the homeless and mentally ill, it's a guarantee they won't be in the right state of mind.

But even if they could consent, that still wouldn't negate the point. Even IF we have a perfectly mentally healthy adult choosing death (which is an oxymoron in its own right), it wouldn't change the fact that death is not a choice you can simply make. 

As in, it's a permanent choice. Of course, choices like getting a tattoo or having kids are "permanent" choices, the choice of death is 100% irreversible. There is a 100% chance this "consenting adult" will not be able undo, much less mitigate the effects of his decision. Because, of course, he won't exist anymore.

And given that the adult in this example is perfectly mentally healthy, it's almost certain he'd change his mind eventually. 

The Choice of Death Itself Is Immoral 

If it is indeed truly ok to end one's life given that it's his choice, then that essentially means life has no inherent value, other than what the owner of that life chooses to do with it. 

In fact, if a human life becomes inconsequential to lose as long as the person chooses it to be so, then even a used car would have more inherent value than a human life.

Again, if you think I'm wrong, let's see how the "pro-suicide" side has been taken to its extreme conclusion

In Canada, thousands of perfectly normal lives have been ended with the MAID program, dozens or even hundreds a day as we speak. Nearly four thousand of these people would've still lived on had they not been executed early, as mentioned in the intro. 

An entire small town has essentially been systematically executed at scale. 

And with the larger statistic of 76,000 total deaths from the MAID program, an entire city has basically been eviscerated from the face of the Earth. A Holocaust that has been made legal by the Canadian government.

But if consenting adults can make the choice of death, in theory, this should all be fine right?

My point is that even if they were all adults in good mental standing, such a thought should give you chills. And if it doesn't, I'm afraid you're not truly human at all. 

Going back to the man ready to jump off the building, even if we know he'll be just as miserable up until his natural expiration date, we still choose to save him, not for the sake of his "happiness" per say, but for the sake of life itself. 

Because if human life as no inherent worth on its own, then nothing does. 

You Don't Truly Own Your Own Life

This, I believe, is the true, cornerstone reason behind it all. Even if both previous contentions made were completely false, this specific reason would still prove my point. 

In our modern culture, we have this idea that our life is, shall we say, a sort-of tangible object that is in our possession, and like any object we own, can be altered or "tossed out" in this case. 

But your life isn't just a possession you own, like a phone or a car. Human life is far more sacred and valuable than that. 

And most importantly, your life does NOT fully belong to you. 

My life doesn't fully belong to me either. It belongs to both of my parents, and to my brother, and if I were to destroy my own life, their lives would be utterly destroyed as well in a different respect. 

It belongs to close friends who sometimes depend on me, and even to those who don't

Even without my family, my life still belongs dutifully to my community, my country, and to God. My life is not mine to take, because it never truly belonged to me in the first place.

It's the same reason why it's immoral to abuse your body, whether it be doing hard drugs to the point of severe addiction and health complications, or even to sell your body for profit, because its disrespectful and degrading to your life and body, which again, both don't truly belong to you.

Or on a less consequential level, I don't have the moral right to leave my bedroom looking like a pigpen, because it doesn't truly belong to me. I have the duty to keep it tidy and clean, not just for my sake, but for my parents, who bought me my bedroom and will take it back once I depart for university.

Now, should these actions be illegal? I'll let that be a question for you to decide. I've always been personally against "legislating morality," given the legal and ethical questions raised when we start outlawing severe obesity, lying, cursing, or even suicide itself (which of course, could also prove quite difficult to enforce).

Regardless, a piece of perhaps more uplifting news is that the expansion of Canada's MAID suicide program to include mental illness as been delayed until March 2027, showing at least some sense of sanity among Canada's lawmakers. 

Of course, I'd rather the MAID program be abolished entirely, but this is still serves as a useful first step.

And hopefully, this is the first step in making the world a better place, one human life at a time.