International Suicide Prevention Day: we must work to prevent all suicides

The Health and Sport Committee of the Scottish Parliament in its report that rejected Holyrood’s most recent Assisted Suicide Bill, made some telling observations:

There appears to be a contradiction between a policy objective of preventing suicide, on the one hand, and on the other, legislation which would provide for some suicides to be assisted and facilitated.

The Committee notes that, unless assisted suicide is to be made freely available to all, any legislation permitting it must identify eligibility criteria. Where legislation to permit assisted suicide exists alongside a wider policy of suicide prevention, the eligibility criteria in the legislation serve to differentiate between circumstances in which suicide is to be regarded as a tragedy and prevented wherever possible, and circumstances in which suicide is to be regarded as a reasonable choice, to be facilitated and supported.

The Committee is concerned that this has the potential not only to undermine the general suicide prevention message by softening cultural perceptions of suicide at the perimeters, but also to communicate an offensive message to certain members of our community (many of whom may be particularly vulnerable) that society would regard it as ‘reasonable’, rather than tragic, if they wished to end their lives.

We have seen suicide prevention undermined with tragic effect here in Australia through the suicide promotions of advocacy networks, particularly Exit International. Most poignantly, the death of young people springs easily to mind. 

But every suicide is a tragedy and we are failing in our common duty to humanity if we allow ‘other factors’ to weaken the necessary resolve to prevent all suicides.