Campaign launched to stop assisted suicide

A nationwide campaign has been launched within the run-up to the final election asking parliamentary candidates to face against assisted suicide.

Right to Life UK is mobilising voters to contact their local MP candidates and ask them to sign the End of Life Protection Pledge. 

The pledge asks candidates to commit to protecting the vulnerable by voting against attempts to introduce assisted suicide or euthanasia, and as an alternative endorse properly funded, quality palliative care. 

The campaign has been launched following fresh attempts in Parliament to vary the law on assisted suicide. 

Recent polling of MPs by YouGov found that only 35% of MPs support changing the law to permit doctors to help within the suicide of somebody affected by a terminal illness. 

Polling of doctors specialising in palliative care has also revealed strong opposition the legalisation of assisted suicide – 82% of members of the Association for Palliative Medicine and 83% of doctors surveyed by the British Medical Council are opposed.

Nearly two thirds (62%) of individuals living with a disability polled by the charity SCOPE expressed concern that a change within the law would result in increased pressure on individuals with disabilities to finish their lives prematurely.

Half the final population (51%) has expressed concerns about terminally people feeling pressured to finish their lives, based on polling by ComRes.

The Vote to Do No Harm is asking MPs to commit to plugging the £77m funding gap currently faced by hospices across the country to be certain that terminally ailing people have access to quality palliative care at the tip of their lives.

A 2022 briefing to Parliament estimated that some 100,000 individuals are unable to access the palliative care they need every year.  

Spokesperson for Right To Life UK, Catherine Robinson, said: “In the following Parliament, we expect the assisted suicide lobby to return with latest attempts to introduce assisted suicide.

“We are urging voters to interact with their local MP candidates and advocate for the protection of probably the most vulnerable in our society this election.

“There is currently a significant gap in the availability of palliative care services within the United Kingdom. It is estimated that over 100,000 individuals who need palliative care die every year without receiving it.

“The UK needs properly funded high-quality palliative look after those at the tip of their life, not assisted suicide.”