World Suicide Prevention Day Hypocrisy

This article was published by National Review online on September 10, 2026.

Wesley Smith

By Wesley J Smith

You may not have heard, but today is the annual World Suicide Prevention Day. Usually, such efforts are almost invisible. We don’t put nearly as much emphasis on suicide prevention as we once did.

I am all for suicide prevention, of course. I just wish that those efforts included assisted suicide/euthanasia, which costs the lives of approximately 25,000 people annually around the world — with that toll increasing every year. But despite proliferating laws allowing doctors and nurse practitioners to assisted suicides — or, as in Canada, Netherlands, Belgium, New Zealand, and other countries — actively kill suicidal people, prevention efforts are generally silent about this category of suicide.

I checked on the World Health Association link to Prevention Day for 2026. It has a four-tiered prevention strategy that goes by the acronym LIFE:

• L: Limit Access to Suicide;
• I: Interact with the media on responsible reporting;
• F: Foster life skills of young people;
• E: Early identity and support everyone affected.

That’s fine but assisted suicide/euthanasia directly violates three of those four prevention strategies. Let’s look at the “L”:

Limiting access to means of suicide is a universal evidence-based intervention for suicide prevention. Depending on the country, this may mean banning acutely toxic highly hazardous pesticides, restricting firearms, installing barriers in places where suicides are known to occur, limiting access to ligature points or taking other measures.

And yet, assisted suicide provides the means of self-termination to suicidal people.

Does the WHO oppose that — or even mention it? No, it does not.

What about the “I?”:

Interacting with the media for responsible reporting of suicide is significant because media reporting of suicide can lead to a rise in suicide due to imitation — especially if the report is about a celebrity or describes the method of suicide.

And yet, how many glowing media stories have we seen describing assisted suicides as “dying on his own terms,” or extolling suicide/euthanasia goodbye parties, and celebrating suicidal patients conjoining euthanasia with organ donation etc. Good grief, Brittany Maynard was declared by CNN to be an Extraordinary Person of the Year because she committed suicide after being diagnosed with brain cancer, and she was featured repeatedly on the cover of People.

Does WHO oppose that — or even mention it? No, it does not.

What about the “E?”:

Health services are often the entry point for people in distress or for those who have made a suicide attempt where early identification, assessment, management and follow-up care can be provided.

The health system is the “entry point” for all physician-assisted suicides. All are therefore identified. And virtually none receive suicide prevention services.

Does the WHO oppose that or even mention it? No, it does not.

With the exception of the International Association for Suicide Prevention, no suicide prevention associations of which I am aware ever mentions assisted suicide, much less explicitly opposes it. This despite studies demonstrating that legalizing and advocating for assisted suicide increase suicides generally.

One association shamefully says that it isn’t really suicide, but that suicide is a “what,” not a “why.” What an abdication of responsibility.

So, let’s stop the hypocrisy and rename it, “World Some Suicides Prevention Day.” At least that would have the virtue of honesty.