Euthanasia is a way of ending a life to relieve suffering and pain. Different countries have different euthanasia laws. For now, euthanasia is illegal in Taiwan. There are five countries in the world that allow euthanasia. However, euthanasia should be illegal – here’s why:

The story of Frank Fu

In 2018, a retired sports anchor from Taiwan, Frank Fu, passed away at the age of 85 through accompanied suicide. He found out that he had cancer 2017, and he was suffering from pain. So he took his family to Switzerland where doctors helped him to die. He made the trip because, as mentioned, euthanasia is illegal in Taiwan.

This case caused a big controversial debate because it made some citizens in Taiwan want to legalize euthanasia too.

People who want to make euthanasia legal think that it’s their choice to decide if they want to die or not. But choosing death to solve sickness isn’t the best response to these harsh circumstances.

Philosophical reasons euthanasia is wrong

First of all, legal euthanasia would make society think that life isn’t important and valuable. People will think that if they get cancer or some serious sickness, they can just die if they want to.

Why do you think life is valuable? Why do doctors work so hard to save someone’s life?

First of all, life is valuable because you have been through this kind of sickness, and you know how bad sickness is. That is what makes people appreciate that they have such a great life. But if euthanasia became legal, when they get cancer or mental illness, they can just choose not to keep going.

Secondly, if the government allows euthanasia, they would make it more acceptable to kill people. This means more reasons for killing people could be okay in the future, and could open a Pandora’s Box.

Furthermore, if euthanasia is legal, society will put less effort into taking care of others, and might be more willing to throw lives away instead of working hard to save them. In this situation, some doctors’ jobs will be euthanizing people instead of trying to save their lives. What is the point of being a doctor then? Killing people?

Finally, if a parent has a child with a debilitating condition, in a place where euthanasia is normal, the parents might feel like it is okay to euthanize their disabled kids. In other words, it will cause society to become less responsible for certain people.

Religious reasons euthanasia is wrong

Christians are against euthanasia. To them life is a gift given by God. Life and death are processes that God created and we should respect that. No one has the authority to take other people’s life, even if the person wants to die.

In the ten commandments, one of the commandments states “thou shalt not kill.” Churches also emphasize not interfering during the natural process of death.

Most Buddhists are also against euthanasia. They believe in karma, and shortening life interferes with karma.

To them, voluntary euthanasia is wrong because it shows that someone is in a bad state of mind.

How Muslim and Jewish people view euthanasia is very close to the Christian view. To them also, life is given by God, and God chooses how long a person lives. It is forbidden for Muslims to plan on someone’s death.

Jewish laws state that euthanasia is murder. There are no expectations, even if the person tells you to kill them.

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Overall, euthanasia remains controversial. Still, euthanasia is not only against faith and religion, it is also just unethical. This is why euthanasia should be illegal.