I spent about an hour thinking about this so it may be a little outdated. Hah. Ah well.
I'm aware that I'm scratching the surface of a much, much deeper topic here, I can't be bothered to think of all the variables and may contradict myself as I always do, (besides I think T-Nex already hit the nail on the head regarding what I'm about to say here and explained it better than me), but I generally believe that quality of life should be a lot more important than simply being alive, although I think I already said something like this in the abortion topic a couple of months ago.
IMO there's a difference between a bunch of cells that aren't self-aware and a developed embryo that is, and if a child isn't wanted by its parents before it becomes self-aware (yeah, I know that when it becomes self-aware is heavily debated), then they should have the right to abort it - And chances are they won't look after the child properly if that right is taken away from them. But this has been discussed to death and nobody can agree, so I won't go into it further.
Having the opportunity to be given a life by parents who want you and will look after you is a fantastic one, and a happy, healthy person who is enjoying their life and wants to keep it shouldn't have that right taken away from them (unless they pose a serious danger to others - but executing criminals isn't really justifiable. Chances are that if you're in a position to pose a threat to others, then you're not happy or healthy - I think that's a different topic, though).
However, if someone is suffering and wants to die, then they should be allowed to stop living if they're capable of making that decision rationally. This doesn't mean you should be allowed to knock yourself off for solvable problems though, and especially not for mundane problems (for example financial issues, losses of material, non-important goods, breaking up with someone who you were only with for a short time - You fail at life if you commit suicide over those), but if you have a terminal disease and are in a lot of pain without hope of recovery, then you should be allowed to end your own life. I find it silly how you can take a pet to a vets and have them euthanized if it's suffering and has no hope of recovery, but you can't do that to yourself.
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