Eight Million A Year Contemplate Suicide in
USA and the Assisted Suicide Movement
A disturbing number of people–8 million–each year seriously contemplate
suicide, with some 32,000 actually doing the deed. From the story:
More than 8 million Americans seriously consider suicide each year,
according to a new government study. About 32,000 suicides occur in the
United States each year, but a new study by the Substance Abuse and
Mental Health Services Administration indicates that many more give the
idea serious thought.
The report is based on a survey of 46,190 people aged 18 and older.
– People 18 to 25 years old were far more likely to have seriously
considered suicide in the previous year (6.7 percent) than those 26 to
49 (3.9 percent).
– Just 2.3 percent seriously considered suicide among those 50 or older.
– Among people with a substance abuse disorder, 11 percent had
considered suicide, compared with 3 percent without such disorders.
Now, in the face of all of this despair, what is the message of the
assisted suicide movement? That killing yourself is a right and proper
means of ending your suffering. Some advocates–a minority
actually–say
this is “only” for the terminally ill. (I think that is a
political
tactic, but never mind.) But suffering people are not going to
hear
the message that suicide is okay–but only if you have cancer.
Indeed,
I believe the assisted suicide movement compromises society’s
(weakening) anti suicide message, or at the very least, makes it
equivocal. It becomes akin to an anti-tobacco campaign telling
people
to smoke filtered cigarettes. In the end, the message comes out pro
smoking.
Contact: Wesley J. Smith
Source: Secondhand
Smoke
Publish
Date: September 17, 2009
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