THE Bishops of London and Southwark, the Rt Revd Sarah Mullally and the Rt Revd Christopher Chessun, urged MPs to reject current proposals to a change within the law on assisted dying, on the eve of a key debate within the House of Commons.
MPs are as a consequence of vote on the Third Reading of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, on Friday, after it accomplished the Report Stage.
The Bill was “unsafe and unworkable”, Bishop Mullaly, who’s a former Chief Nursing Officer, said in a press release published on Thursday. “If enacted, this Bill would arrive amidst hugely inequitable access to palliative care and an NHS on life-support.
“The potential for abuse and uninformed or coerced decisions is gigantic. This will not be about so-called progressivism v. conservatism, or atheism v. religion. This is concerning the form of society we wish to live in.
“The vision that this Bill presents is one through which the disabled and vulnerable are made to feel like they’re a burden, as if their lives are value less.”
Assurances that problems with the Bill can be addressed at Committee stage had not been fulfilled, she said. “Instead, it has presented more unanswered questions, left more doubts, and seen so-called protections crumble away before even coming into law. I implore every Member of Parliament to ask themselves whether they really imagine assisted suicide is correct for the society through which we wish to live.”
On Thursday, Bishop Chessun sent a lengthy letter to MPs whose constituencies fall inside his diocese. He raised concerns concerning the lack of availability of high-quality palliative care, and the danger that folks would select an assisted death out of fear that they were becoming a burden to family members.
“I fully understand the plea for the dignity of life through to our last breath. Indeed, I fully imagine in it. . . I also understand the argument for complete autonomy in determining one’s life and its passing. I don’t share that view in its entirety. For me such an outlook doesn’t acknowledge life as a present in creation or life in relationship with others,” he wrote.
Bishop Chessun also warned of the danger of coercion, drawing attention to concerns raised in Parliament by the Labour MP for Vauxhall and Camberwell, Florence Eshalomi, who has suggested that people who find themselves UK Minority Ethnic/Global Majority Heritage might be particularly vulnerable. Women, too, might be particularly vulnerable to coercion, Bishop Chessun suggested.
