Americans' views on euthanasia have remained largely unchanged over the last decade, with most people believing doctors should legally be allowed to end a patient’s life, a new Gallup poll shows.
A little more than 7 in 10 Americans think doctors should, by law, be able to end a patient’s life “by some painless means” if the patient and their family ask for it, according to the poll.
A smaller majority of Americans are supportive of physician-assisted suicide, or when patients end their own lives with the help of a doctor.
Gallup found that 66 percent of Americans believe doctors should be “allowed by law to assist the patient commit suicide” for terminal patients with severe pain who request it.
The debate over whether doctors should be able to actively assist patients in ending their lives is long-standing, but a growing number of states are considering bills that would allow physicians to prescribe life-ending drugs to terminally ill patients.
While most Americans think doctors should be allowed to assist a patient in ending their life, only about half of Americans think that it is morally OK to do.
Gallup found that 53 percent of Americans think physician-assisted suicide is morally acceptable and 40 percent think it is wrong.
Americans who identify as religious and attend religious services regularly are more likely to think that the practice is morally wrong compared to nonreligious or non-service-attending adults.
Most Americans who attend a weekly religious service — 66 percent — think doctor-assisted suicide is wrong, while 48 percent of Americans who attend a service almost weekly or monthly think the same.
Meanwhile, 28 percent of Americans who rarely or never attend a religious service think the practice is wrong.
Gallup measured approval for doctor-assisted suicide among three faith groups: the religiously unaffiliated, Protestants and Catholics.
The overwhelming majority of Americans without a religious affiliation — 77 percent — think legal euthanasia is morally acceptable, while 46 percent of Protestants and 44 percent of Catholics think the same.
Democrats, at 69 percent, and college graduates, at 67 percent, are more likely to support doctor-assisted suicide than Republicans and those without a college degree.
