by Geov Parrish

About the author: Geov Parrish is an active member of the War Resisters League.

My perspective on this issue comes not only from my activism and pacifism, but also from the fact that I've survived multiple suicide attempts (the first when I was nine) and a terminal illness first diagnosed six years ago, for which I received an experimental multiple organ transplant two years ago.

As such, I'm probably above average in my appreciation of pain, depression and the pitfalls of medicine. And with those imperfections, I still believe absolutely that the only person qualified to make a decision about whether, with all available information, a life is or is not worth continuing, is the individual living that life. Nobody else: not a doctor, not a friend or family member, and especially...