On the Decriminalization of Assisting Suicide in Austria

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  • オーストリアにおける自殺幇助の合法化について
  • オーストリア ニ オケル ジサツホウジョ ノ ゴウホウカ ニ ツイテ

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Section 78 of the Criminal Code of Austria made the act of “assisting suicide” a criminal offense. In December 2020, however, the Constitutional Court of the Catholic country vacated the provision because it violated one’s right to self-determination, which includes the right to seek help from a third party in terminating one’s own life. This paper aims to examine the background and ramifications of this shift. First, I review Death in Dignity published by the Austrian Bioethics Commission in 2015. Then I explore the influences from neighboring countries. In Germany, for example, the Federal Constitutional Court struck down a law criminalizing repeated assistance in suicide in February 2020 for the same reason as its Austrian counterpart. Finally, I compare Austria which still prohibits euthanasia, with Canada which legalized both assisted suicide and euthanasia all at once as medical aid in dying.

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