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Pew Survey Finds Opinion Divided on Physician Assisted Suicide

By Hilary White

WASHINGTON, January 10, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A Pew Research Center survey, conducted in November 2005 shows there is a nearly 50/50 split in US opinion on allowing physician-assisted suicide. Among 1,500 adults surveyed, 45% oppose the introduction of laws allowing doctors to “help patients to end their lives.”

The support for assisted suicide varied considerably depending upon the reasons given. 60% believed that a patient should be allowed to take his own life if he is “suffering great pain with no hope of improvement,” an increase from 55% in 1990. Assisted suicide because of fears of being “a burden” to family or because “life has become too burdensome,” has little support, 29% and 33% respectively, and shows little change since 1990.

61% said they feel the “mercy killing” of a spouse is always (6%) or sometimes (55%) justified, only if the spouse was “suffering terrible pain from a terminal disease.” The number of people who believe that killing a spouse is never justified has increased slightly from 20% in 1990 to 29% in 2005.

84% supported establishing laws to allow terminally ill patients to decide when to cease medical treatments and 74% agreed that a close family member should be allowed to decide when a patient has become decisionally incapacitated.

Responses differed, however, on the question of actively killing patients. Opinions on physician assisted suicide and active euthanasia are also strongly divided depending upon the respondents’ religious affiliation. 61% of white evangelical Protestants oppose laws allowing assisted suicide while those with no religion and those affiliated with mainline Protestant groups approve (62% and 65% respectively). Catholics are nearly evenly divided with 50% opposing assisted suicide and 40% approving.

60% of those polled said they believed there is such a thing as a “moral right” to commit suicide. The numbers varied slightly between men (66%) and women (54%) who believed that a patient suffering great pain with no hope of improvement has a moral right to commit suicide. 60% of Catholics agreed to this as did 73% of “mainline” Protestants and 78% of “seculars.” Only 42% of white, evangelical Protestants agreed however.

The numbers who believed that “every effort” should be made to save the lives of “severely handicapped” infants has increased significantly since 1990. 59% of women responded that disabled infants should be treated, up from 47% in 1990. The numbers also increased slightly with Catholics (57% to 63%) and white evangelical Protestants (60% to 68%). African Americans (84%) and younger respondents (70%) are more likely than others to favor providing as much treatment as possible.

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