A BILL to legalise assisted dying within the UK won’t receive its next vote within the House of Commons until 13 June, after a parliamentary session on Friday ran out of time to debate the amendments that had been tabled.
The Labour MP Kim Leadbeater brought forward the proposed laws through a Private Member’s Bill (PMB). It has been strongly opposed by some bishops within the Church of England, with the Bishop of London, the Rt Revd Sarah Mullally, a former Chief Nursing Officer, distinguished amongst its critics (News, 6 May).
Unlike provision for Public Bills, PMBs are debated only on 13 Fridays in a parliamentary session, that are put aside for this. The Report Stage within the Commons began last Friday. More than 90 MPs had indicated their desire to talk, and, despite a cut-off date being imposed on speeches, insufficient progress was made for members to vote on the Bill as an entire.
The only substantial change to be introduced on Friday extends the list of people that can refuse to participate within the strategy of assisted dying. The wording of the Bill already allowed medical practitioners to refuse involvement; the brand new wording extends the range of the opt-out to incorporate any health-care staff involved at any point in the method.
In the only real vote in the controversy, an amendment was defeated which might have ensured that an worker who works for an employer (similar to a hospice) who has chosen not to supply assisted dying couldn’t themselves achieve this.
Challenged on this in Friday’s debate, Ms Leadbeater said that the relevant clause states clearly, that, “No person is under any duty to take part in the availability of assistance in accordance with this Act.” She felt strongly, she said, that, “if people are not looking for to be involved, they shouldn’t should be involved, and those that do, should.”
Caroline Ansell, the director of advocacy and policy on the charity Christian Action Research and Education and the previous Conservative MP for Eastbourne, said last Friday that she was “deeply saddened by the vote this afternoon to disclaim hospices and care homes the suitable to opt out of facilitating assisted suicides, should Kim Leadbeater’s Bill change into law. This could cause some vital services to shut their doors.”
A campaigner for the legalisation of assisted dying, Dame Esther Rantzen, was criticised in the course of the debate for her accusation that opponents of the Bill were motivated by “undeclared personal religious beliefs”.
The Labour MP for Lowestoft, Jess Asato, said on Friday that the comments, made in a letter sent to MPs, were “distasteful and disrespectful”.
The MP for Vauxhall and Camberwell Green, Florence Eshalomi, also Labour, said that it was “insulting to disabled people and hard-working professionals up and down the country to have their many valid concerns about this Bill dismissed as religious beliefs.”
The Conservative MP for Bexhill and Battle, Dr Kieran Mullan, responded to the controversy on behalf of the Opposition, and said that he was “concerned to see the clumsy criticism of those whose objections to the Bill are regarded as centred of their religious beliefs . . . not least because I think that a really large variety of supporters of the Bill might draw on their Christian or other religious compassion to clarify why they need to see it pass.”
Neither the Labour Party or the Conservative Party are taking an official position on the laws, and MPs are to be allowed a free vote.
Ms Ansell also criticised the period of time allotted for debate on Friday, saying that it “compounded concern” concerning the Bill. “Some parliamentarians didn’t get to talk to their amendments, and those that did faced a rushed debate wherein they weren’t in a position to elaborate on vital points. This shouldn’t be how Parliament should deliberate on any issue, let alone one in all such gravity,” she said.
