Over at First Things today, I write about being asked to a suicide “going away” party for a friend back in 1991. From, “RSVP ‘No’ to Suicide Party:”

My elderly friend Frances wanted to die. Her plan, she said, was to hold a life celebration with her closest friends: We would hold her hand, kiss her cheek, and tell her how much she meant to us—as she expressed her love for us. Then she would take an overdose of pills and embark upon what she called her “final passage.”
We all said no. Refusing to validate her suicide caused her to change her mind, before finally succumbing to the darkness about a year later.

What was unthinkable back then–attending a friend or loved one’s suicide–is now common where assisted suicide and/or euthanasia are legal. Supporting another’s hastened death in this manner is morally fraught, and in my view, makes it easier for the suicidal person to do the deed:

Supporting another’s self-destruction is not a compassionate—or morally neutral—act. To the contrary, attending a suicide sends an unintentional but clear message to the suicidal person: Yes, your life is no longer worth living; you are a burden; you are better off dead (and we’re better off with you dead, too).
I don’t believe that we should judge or condemn people who commit suicide. None of us knows our own limits or breaking point. But I also think we can validly criticize those who, for whatever reason, make it easier or acceptable for despairing people to end their lives.

Today, the pressure is on people is to validate with suicide in cases of serious illness and disability. Indeed, saying no could come with painful consequences:

If I am right, refusing to attend another’s suicide—at least in circumstances involving terminal illness or profound disability—could one day result in social martyrdom, the loss of valued friendships, family estrangement, and accusations of cold-hearted moralism (not to mention the guilt of being absent when a loved one dies).
But we aren’t there yet. Regardless of legality, social noncooperation with the death agenda could still help hold back the encroaching tide.

So, this is the world we are entering, where trying to prevent–and refusing to be complicit in–suicide makes you the bad guy.