This august World Assembly finds as follows:Now, therefore, the World Assembly repeals GA 285 'Assisted Suicide Act'.
- People suffering from a chronic, insurable, and painful condition should have the right to end their own lives voluntarily in a painless manner. Nations should respect an individual's choice in this manner, insofar as that choice does not harm others directly.
- GA 285 'Assisted Suicide Act' violates this duty by allowing some member nations to prohibit assisted suicide and euthanasia within their jurisdictions. And in consequence of the regulatory decisions that the Assembly permits, it makes member nations collectively complicit in forcing people to suffer unnecessarily.
- While GA 285 'Assisted Suicide Act' allows people to travel to different jurisdictions, this creates a de facto prohibition on assisted suicide for people who lack funds needed for travel. As most people who seek euthanasia are also suffering from severe medical conditions that require specialised care, GA 285's travel rights also are far more restrictive than they appear on face: chartering a private air ambulance flight, transporting all the equipment necessary for the patient, and arrangement of medical services in a foreign nation without social insurance are all expensive transactions beyond the reach of, say, a terminal pensioner on a fixed income.
- It is more than likely that GA 285's travel provisions cannot be exercised, due to massive financial barriers, except by those who are extremely wealthy. The Assembly has in the past acted to strike down domestic prohibitions designed to make certain procedures exorbitantly expensive or available only to those able to travel to foreign jurisdictions. It furthermore has taken decisive action to enable access to regionally-inaccessible medical procedures. This is no different.
- Additionally, section 4 of GA 285, by prohibiting 'the use of World Assembly funds for assisted suicides and euthanasia procedures', stops the Assembly from providing funds to pay for or subsidise euthanasia procedures, blocking legislation intended to expand access to such procedures and ultimately keeping the option out of reach for many suffering patients. To take meaningful action on this topic, these blocking clauses must be repealed.
- Only by passage of enabling legislation could the Assembly's duty to terminal patients who voluntarily seek euthanasia be fulfilled in the face of local particularists complicit in prolonging suffering (except for those socioeconomically privileged few who can pay their own way in foreign jurisdictions). This is no different from previous resolutions striking down policies that make certain procedures unaffordable and unaccessible to most people. The Assembly hopes that such enabling legislation be enacted forthwith.
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