[mighty_atomic_c]

Banning suicide is as effective as declaring pi as 3 via legislative fiat. At least in my mind.

For one, it is hard to enforce; those who choose to end their own lives may not show any signs until the attempt. If they succeed, they cannot be punished. If they fail, what is a "just" punishment? How do you effectively punish someone who wants to die so that after their punishment, they want to live?

I guess, philosophically, we do have absolute control of our bodies in practice. Making laws that defy the reality of what humans are is a path to tyranny. If people dont have absolute rights, does the state? There is talk of balancing individual rights against the state, which shallowly encouraging, but to me any system where the individual is not free to not make choices about their body will always be able to justify actions that trade more rights for "security".