Desmond Tutu in WAPO

The Archbishop emeritus of Cape Town is 85 and has had repeated hospitalizations, lately, for infections resulting from surgery for prostate cancer, says the story in The Guardian.

Says The Guardian,

Assisted dying is legal in Switzerland, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Albania, Colombia and Japan as well as Canada. 

Several US states have enacted measures on assisted dying, including Washington, California, Oregon, Vermont and New Mexico.

In September last year, the UK parliament rejected a bill to allow assisted dying for the terminally ill, with 330 MPs voting against it and 118 backing the measure, despite an opinion poll showing it was supported by 82% of the public. 

The same poll suggested that 44% of people would break the law to help a loved one to die, risking a jail sentence of up to 14 years.

When my time comes, I want the option of an assisted death, Tutu writes in WAPO.

Just as I have argued firmly for compassion and fairness in life, I believe that terminally ill people should be treated with the same compassion and fairness when it comes to their deaths. 

Dying people should have the right to choose how and when they leave Mother Earth. 

I believe that, alongside the wonderful palliative care that exists, their choices should include a dignified assisted death.

. . . .

Two years ago, I announced the reversal of my lifelong opposition to assisted dying in an op-ed in the Guardian. 

But I was more ambiguous about whether I personally wanted the option, writing: “I would say I wouldn’t mind.” 

Today, I myself am even closer to the departures hall than arrivals, so to speak, and my thoughts turn to how I would like to be treated when the time comes. 

Now more than ever, I feel compelled to lend my voice to this cause.

. . . .

I welcome anyone who has the courage to say, as a Christian, that we should give dying people the right to leave this world with dignity. 

My friend Lord Carey, the former archbishop of Canterbury, has passionately argued for an assisted-dying law in Britain. 

His initiative has my blessing and support — as do similar initiatives in my home country, South Africa, throughout the United States and across the globe.


In refusing dying people the right to die with dignity, we fail to demonstrate the compassion that lies at the heart of Christian values. 

I pray that politicians, lawmakers and religious leaders have the courage to support the choices terminally ill citizens make in departing Mother Earth. 

The time to act is now.

WAPO is supportive of a less broad initiative in DC that is better than nothing.