Opponents of Kim Leadbeater’s assisted suicide bill proceed to hope in its defeat after it faced significant opposition within the House of Lords.
Two days of debate within the upper chamber concluded on Friday with peers voting to send it to a dedicated select committee for further scrutiny.
An evaluation by Right to Life UK of 155 speeches given by peers across the 2 days found that a majority spoke out against the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill.
The bill seeks to legalise assisted suicide for terminally unwell adults who’ve been given lower than six months to live.
The decision by the Lords to further scrutinise the proposals in a committee has been hailed as a “significant win” for opponents.
Alisdair Hungerford-Morgan, Chief Executive Officer at Right To Life UK, said, “The large majority of peers speaking in opposition to the bill across the 2 days of Second Reading suggests the House of Lords is currently significantly more opposed than supportive of the bill.
“Given that the House of Lords can reject the bill, the bill is increasingly looking prefer it is in jeopardy and won’t ever turn into law.”
He said that with hospices already facing cuts this yr, and the NHS in a parlous state, legalising assisted suicide could be “a disaster waiting to occur”.
“Vulnerable people in our society need our unwavering protection and the most effective quality care, not a pathway to assisted suicide,” he said.
“Evidence from abroad shows that, if this laws becomes law, large numbers of vulnerable people nearing the tip of life could be pressured or coerced into ending their lives.”
During the talk, Baroness Finlay, former head of the British Medical Association, said that the bill “doesn’t improve patient selection or control”.
Drawing on her experience as an MP, Baroness Berger warned peers that, sadly, there are individuals who want relations to die or who feel they’re a burden.
Lord Frost warned that legalising assisted suicide would shatter the nation’s entire ethical framework and result in “utilitarianism” where “none of us” could be protected.
Former First Minister of Northern Ireland, Baroness Foster, said: “The two days of debate at Second Reading have shown just how strongly this Bill is opposed across the House. Peer after peer spoke in regards to the dangers it poses and the harm it might inflict on probably the most vulnerable.
“Given this widespread opposition, it would be an uphill struggle for those backing the bill to get it through a dedicated select committee after which all its remaining stages before the tip of the Parliamentary session.”
Former Paralympian, Baroness Grey-Thompson, said: “The message from the 2 days of Second Reading is unequivocal: we must protect probably the most disadvantaged in society.”
Responding to the talk, policy head at Christian charity CARE and former MP, Caroline Ansell, said: “The assisted suicide bill, or ‘license to kill bill’ because it was termed last week, has again been exposed as deeply and fundamentally flawed each in principle and in practice.
“For the second week in a row, a transparent majority of peers stood up at second reading to focus on the very real dangers on this seismic social change.”
She continued, “For me, having represented Eastbourne and gone out on patrol with Beachy Head Chaplains, the stand-out speech was Lord Moore’s as he described their life-saving work on the cliff edge.
“This bill, which asserts that some suicides are ‘dignified’, risks fatally undermining suicide prevention work throughout the country.”
Dr Gordon Macdonald, CEO of Care Not Killing, said, “We fully support peers being given the time and space they should properly scrutinise this laws, without Government interference or pressure from the whips.
“If they aren’t given this time or are unable to repair this badly drafted laws, then, as was made clear by several peers, there is barely one option open to them.
“They must vote down Kim Leadbeater’s dangerous Assisted Dying Bill and give attention to fixing the UK’s broken palliative care system.”
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