Libertarian here, so I&#x27;m comfortable with people owning their own bodies and being solely responsible for what they do with it.<p>Having said that, I&#x27;d like to make the case for keeping it illegal because I believe there&#x27;s a strong case to be made. Killing yourself should be a unique, extraordinary event in both your life and the lives of those around you. We should never make a system out of killing people, because systems can be gamed.<p>In a way, this is much the same discussion as the old &quot;would you torture a terrorist to determine where a nuclear bomb was waiting to go off?&quot;<p>Yes. Yes I would. I would consider such an act to be horribly immoral, and I might regret it to the day I die, but yes, I would. Likewise I&#x27;d take my own life or help people I love take theirs -- but I would worry over whether I did the right thing or not. If I were a religious person, I might consider my act immoral. But I&#x27;d still do it.<p>Once you create a system out of killing people -- people go in one side, forms get filled out, and dead people come out the other -- you&#x27;ve taken a step towards the state arbitrarily deciding who lives or dies based on its <i>own</i> system of value and not the individual&#x27;s. So in a way, you give up much more in this fashion than if you simply outlawed it and never prosecuted. (Which is probably what happens 90% of the time in countries where assisted suicide is illegal.)<p>So yeah, I&#x27;d torture the terrorist. But I&#x27;d raise holy hell for any system of government where torture was a accepted way of doing things. Good grief, can you imagine what just a little tweaking would do to a system like that?<p>Speeding is illegal. If you want to speed on the way to the hospital because somebody you love is in danger? Speed. By all means, speed. I&#x27;ll be the first person to protest any law enforcement person that tries to stop you.<p>But speeding should probably still be illegal for systemic reasons not related at all to your loved one being ill.