Measured against the official number of around 9200 suicides in Germany in 2020, the information provided by the “Verein Euthanasia” seems modest, according to which 129 people were helped to commit suicide in the past year.
However, if you compare this to the statement that the association only provided suicide assistance to 300 people between 2009 and November 2020, the impression is obvious that the Federal Constitutional Court achieved its goal with its euthanasia ruling of February 2020.
Firstly, the activities of euthanasia organizations in Germany are no longer subject to legal restrictions - which should explain the increased use.
Second, the statistics clearly document that the use of this service is not tied to any judicial prerequisite.
Whether a healthy 18-year-old is helped with suicide, a terminally ill cancer patient or a manic-depressive woman in her forties, the state does not care.
And thirdly, should the Bundestag regulate suicide assistance in such a way that the desire for autonomous self-determination cannot be met without restrictions, this law will land back in Karlsruhe - regardless of whether it takes up the ideas of comprehensive suicide counseling or not, as did the Bundestag member Karl Lauterbach (SPD) had proposed.