ABSTRACT
Abortion rights supporters advocated “freedom of choice” while those opposing abortion promoted “right to life.” A similar debate is now occurring for doctor assisted suicide, where “right to die” advocates have been spurred on by the continuing physician-aided deaths of Dr. Jack Kevorkian in Michigan. The issue of doctor-assisted suicide has been a major legal consideration in recent years. The attitude toward suicide in the Biblical world is much more uniform. God gives and takes life and humans must not intervene in this process in ordinary circumstances. Although the Supreme Court ruled unanimously in 1997 against a constitutional right to physician-assisted suicide, it left the matter up to individual states to decide. Most Biblical religions stress on the sacredness of life and the idea that only a Creator has the power to give life or to take it away.
