ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author presents the moral case for voluntary beneficent euthanasia, both active and passive and outlines an ethical theory in defense of it. Secular humanists are often challenged for defending euthanasia, there is a profound ethical justification for it. Voluntary euthanasia implies that the adults are competent and rational. The decision to opt for euthanasia ought to follow from a long-standing intention of a person that under certain conditions he or she does not want to have his or her life prolonged and possibly wishes to hasten its termination. All that voluntary euthanasia recognizes is that there are tens of millions of people who, after a deliberative process, have decided that they want to terminate their lives, actively or passively. Euthanasia has to be a freely chosen option on the part of the person. There may be cases in which an individual opts for euthanasia, while his relatives or his community oppose his decision as unreasonable.
