Want more suicide? Legalize assisted suicide

Another study — actually, a study of other studies — has concluded that legalizing euthanasia and/or assisted suicide leads to more suicide. From “Does Legalising Assisted Suicide Make Things Better Or Worse?” published by the Anscombe Bioethics Center:

Whether legalising EAS encourages suicide or helps prevent suicide is an empirical question. We need to look at the evidence. There have been several studies published on this topic in peer review journals in recent years.

These studies have found that, after EAS is introduced:

* Rates of EAS increase significantly
* Rates of self-initiated deaths (EAS plus non-assisted suicide) increase significantly
* The increase in self-initiated death is disproportionately high in women
* Rates of non-assisted suicide also increase, in some cases significantly
* No study has found a reduction in non-assisted suicide relative to non-EAS states.