If your life isn't yours to end, it was never yours to begin with.
I'm operating on the assumption that death is the permanent cessation of my subjective conscious experience. I have no reason to believe in any sort of deity or afterlife, and don't think religious or otherwise supernatural belief systems should have any bearing on the legal or moral status of suicide.
I think suicide is morally permissible in pretty much all cases, with the notable exception of parents, or people who create a structural dependency of comparable scale. This is probably because I'm also an antinatalist (though of course, antinatalism doesn't commit you to any one stance on death or suicide). In bringing a sentient/conscious being into the world or otherwise taking responsibility for its welfare (i.e., adoption), I believe you've forfeited your *moral* right to suicide. I still, however, support your *legal* right to suicide.
I think medical assistance in dying (MAID) should be available to any adult of sound mind, and find it extremely frustrating when the 'mental illness is jUsT aS vALiD as physical illness' crowd refuses to take their stance to its logical conclusion. Note that wanting to die does not make you inherently 'unsound' of mind and it's awfully convenient of pro-lifers to define these criteria as mutually exclusive. Suicide can be a rational and even ethically privileged response to life. My 'ideal' legal framework for MAID would involve a mandatory waiting period of say, six months to a year, during which professional counselling and other treatment options would be encouraged. If, at the end of that period, you still wanted to end your life, you would be able to do so peacefully, under medical supervision, hopefully surrounded by your loved ones, instead of spending your last moments terrified, alone, and in pain. I realize there are legitimate concerns regarding coercion and perverse incentives with MAID, particularly in cases of disability or terminal illness, but I'm 'hoping' that the waiting period would offset most of them.
In terms of current medical practice, I don't think that involuntary hospitalization is the right response to suicidal ideation or attempts. Research shows that people who were committed against their will are actually several times more likely to attempt and commit suicide, so it's counterproductive from the pro-life point of view as well. I imagine most people on this forum can relate when I say that I can never be honest about the extent of my suicidal ideation with anyone in my life for fear of being locked up. This is also a barrier for those who want recovery - if you can't be honest with your therapist or doctor, how can you get effective treatment?
In terms of media and speech, I don't think information about suicide should be censored. I see it as analogous to illicit drug use - while it may not be something we want to promote 'as a society', we (hopefully) recognize the value of harm reduction, which means having access to relevant data and research without moralizing on the subject. How many impulsive or agonizing (failed) attempts could have been prevented if the people involved had had easier access to suicide statistics (like the efficacy of various methods)? How many of us continue to suffer relentlessly because the relevant information is often under lock and key, let alone the actual chemicals? We can't even openly discuss sources on this forum for fear of getting them shut down. I also think it's pretty infantilizing when, for example, media outlets will avoid showing or describing how someone died if they took their own life, but won't leave out any details if they died under any other circumstance.
Overall my views align very closely with those of Sarah Perry, author of 'Every Cradle Is A Grave'. In the book, she discusses suicide rights at length, and dispels a lot of misinformation and propaganda on the subject. I'd highly recommend it for anyone interested in philosophical pessimism and birth and death ethics. I felt like I learned so much even as someone who was already committed to her conclusions.
