Christians ‘grieved’ after MPs back assisted suicide by just 23 votes

Christians have reacted with sadness after MPs today voted in favour of Kim Leadbeater’s bill to legalise assisted suicide. 

The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill won by a margin of just 23 votes – 314 in favour to 291 against.

The vote followed hours of often emotional debate within the House of Commons. It now passes to the House of Lords for further revisions. 

The bill passed today will allow terminally in poor health adults in England and Wales who’ve been given six months or less to live, to request medical assistance to finish their very own lives. 

Reacting the consequence, Ciaràn Kelly, Director of The Christian Institute, said: “Christians will feel grieved that MPs have shown so little regard for the dignity of human life, so little compassion for the concerns of vulnerable groups, and so little respect for the testimony of medical examiners.

“But we must not hand over. We must proceed to hope. And we must now look to the House of Lords, where we are able to expect higher scrutiny of this dangerous and unworkable bill.”

Leadbeater told MPs through the debate that her bill offered a “compassionate and secure alternative” to terminally in poor health people and that it has “many safeguards” and “strict criteria”. 

Many MPs were unpersuaded, amongst them Conservative MP Sir Edward Leigh who warned that if it was passed: “We could have death on demand.”

Labour MP Diane Abbott asked MPs, “What might be more unjust than to lose you life due to poorly drafted laws?”

“Because there is not any doubt that if this bill passes in its current form people would lose their lives who don’t must,” she said.

Conservative MP Jeremy Wright, who can also be a professional barrister, said he couldn’t support the bill due to type of society he feared it might create.

“I don’t want to live in a society where any person, including the terminally in poor health, is inspired in the assumption that their lives usually are not beneficial and valued to their very last moments,” he said.

Christians and disability advocates were among the many fiercest opponents of the bill within the run-up to the vote, but there have been other critics too. 

The Royal College of Psychiatrists had raised concerns about potential issues with the bill, particularly across the assessment of capability and consent, and the implications for people with mental health issues.

The Royal Colleges of Physicians said it might be hard for a panel of experts to find out if an individual was being coerced or had mental capability.

Ross Hendry, CEO of CARE, which is campaigning against a change within the law, said: “This vote for assisted suicide is a blow to human dignity and other people whose legitimate fears have been dismissed as irrelevant. 

“Legalising this practice would send a harmful message that lives marked by illness and disability usually are not value living, and result in abuses against vulnerable and marginalised members of society: lonely elderly people, disabled people, victims of domestic abuse and others. Those who advocate for these groups will probably be feeling anxious and indignant.

“People on each side of the assisted suicide debate share a desire to alleviate human suffering. In our view, facilitating suicides under an irredeemably flawed legislative regime is the mistaken approach to help struggling residents. Palliative and end-of-life care requires significant, and urgent investment. Yet, conventional care can be harmed if assisted suicide becomes legal.

“We will proceed to fight this Bill, together with many others.”