system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
I believe that suicide should be legal and the government should provide a painless suicide options to all citizens. CMV.

**UPDATE:** There are too many comments to reply now, so I will summarize my opinion. I think that the subreddit did a great job at trying to convince me otherwise and provided many excellent counterpoints. I won't award anyone a delta since I haven't changed my view completely, but the following ideas deserve half-a-delta:

1) The effect on friends and relatives of those who kill themselves is unclear and we cannot be certain the net effect is going to be positive

2) Allowing legal suicides could in fact cause a lot more people to consider that option. It is unclear whether the long-term outcome would be positive or negative.

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Original post:

Assuming that:

**a)** Each person has complete body autonomy

**b)** The government's goal is to maximize individual happiness of all citizens

I don't see a reason why the government shouldn't provide "suicide booths" to all citizens for free, regardless of their current health condition.

This would solve two problems:

**a)** People who suffer from depression, terminal diseases, life in prison, lack of money, or simply general dissatisfaction in life will get the opportunity to end their suffering, fulfilling their right to body autonomy

**b)** Society as a whole will become more happy on average, fulfilling the goal of the government.

Potential counter-arguments:

**1)** How can someone be 100% sure they want to kill themselves? Aka the "False dilemma" fallacy.

Well, nothing is 100% sure. I'm not 100% sure I want to take out a loan, but I would still have to repay it later. A murderer was not 100% sure when he wanted to kill someone, but he still has to go to prison. Why not let people kill themselves when they're 51% sure? It's their choice, their responsibility.  


**2)** Depressed people need treatment, not suicide.

Yes they do. But someone who is depressed still has bodily autonomy over themselves and they are still responsible for their actions (otherwise depressed people would never go to jail). Forcing them to go to a doctor instead of taking the easy route violates their basic human right.

**3)** The government will abuse their power and kill off innocent people

It already does that with the law enforcement. Thousands of innocent people go to jail because of the government. There should be a complex system involved in the "suicide booths" to prevent misuse by the government, but ultimately nothing is 100%. We can't fix the system for all people, but why not try to make it right for 99% of them?
gpt
I reject premise (b). The goal of government is not to maximize individual happiness. The purpose of government is large scale coordination of activities limited to enacted laws.

Side notes: its irrelevant if suicide is legal. there can be no consequences for a successful suicide.