Do not legalise assisted suicide, Christian campaigners beg

Christian campaigners are appealing to MPs to reject proposals to legalise assisted suicide. 

Many of them can be gathered outside Parliament this morning as MPs debate Kim Leadbeater’s Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, which might allow assisted suicide for some terminally sick adults who’ve been given lower than six months to live. 

Andrea Williams, chief executive of Christian Concern, which has been running a campaign against the bill, said: “This vote is probably the most profound threat to life in our nation since 1967.

“Now is the time for us all to withstand assisted suicide.”

She added, “Right now, everyone has a probability to assist prevent the United Kingdom from selecting death. If we cross this line, it could take a long time to reverse the damage.”

The vote is reported to be on a knife-edge after quite a lot of MPs who had initially given their backing turned against it in the previous couple of days. They include 4 Labour MPs who made a last-minute switch over the removal of a key safeguard – replacing approval by a High Court judge with a panel. 

Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick and Christian MP Tim Farron are amongst those that have said they can be voting against the bill.

The Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCPsych), the Royal College of Pathologists and the Royal College of Physicians have all raised concerns about it. 

Christian Concern has been leading the No Way Back campaign against the bill in the times leading as much as today’s vote, which is able to see the bill passed on to the House of Lords for further revision or rejected altogether. 

The campaign includes a video warning in regards to the harms of assisted suicide and a web site with more information and resources, including a tool to contact MPs.

At the centre of the campaign is the message that assisted suicide is dangerous, especially for disabled and terminally sick individuals.

Paul Huxley, a spokesman for the No Way Back campaign, said: “The availability of assisted suicide puts additional burden on terminally sick people to determine whether their lives are value living.

“Even where there is no such thing as a explicit coercion, persons are very easily made to feel that others could be higher off without them.

“This is much more of a risk with this bill’s poor safeguards. Doctors can be allowed to lift assisted suicide with patients, increasing the perceived pressure on them to take their lives.” 

He pointed to the instance of Oregon within the US, where nearly half of patients who selected assisted suicide (43%) cited ‘feeling like a burden’ as a consider their decision. 

He expects that whatever safeguards are initially put in place within the UK can be regularly eroded, as has happened in other countries where it’s already legal.

“Similar or worse figures are seen in Washington State, Canada and other jurisdictions that provide assisted suicide or euthanasia,” he continued.

“Assisted suicide isn’t compassionate. It leaves vulnerable people within the position of justifying their continued treatment and existence.

“What’s more, once this line has been crossed, safeguards and restrictions are consistently relaxed. In Canada, for instance, there are multiple instances of people undergoing euthanasia or being prompted to think about suicide because of poverty, housing issues, and mental health conditions.

“Terminally sick people deserve higher care, not suicide.”

Alithea Williams, public policy manager on the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, said Friday’s vote was “crucial”. 

“If it goes to the House of Lords, Peers can amend it, but MPs will only vote again on their amendments, not on the bill as a complete,” she said. 

Gordon Macdonald, CEO of Care Not Killing, handed in a petition to 10 Downing Street this week signed by hundreds of individuals opposing the plans.

“Any MP who still has concerns about this bill cannot hope that peers will fix what the Commons didn’t — they need to vote no,” he said.