English bishop says Assisted Suicide Bill will lead to medical killing of sick, disabled, elderly
LEICESTER, United Kingdom – Another bishop in England is calling for people to oppose the idea of assisted suicide as the British Parliament prepares to hear the issue on Wednesday.
Bishop Mark Davies of Shrewsbury says legalizing assisted suicide or euthanasia “poses the same dangers and challenges the same moral foundations on which our laws have been based.
His remarks on Friday come a day after the publication of opposition to assisted suicide from Cardinal Vincent Nichols, President of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales and Archbishop of Westminster.
Earlier this month , Labour MP Kim Leadbeater announced she was introducing a private members Bill allowing terminally ill, mentally competent people to end their own life with a doctor’s assistance.
Labour Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer – who has supported assisted suicide – has promised MPs a “free vote” on the issue, meaning they could choose to vote with their conscience rather than along party lines.
The “Choice at the End of Life Bill” will be introduced to Parliament on Oct. 16.
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In his statement to be read at all Masses in his diocese this weekend, Davies said the Bill will seek to remove the legal safeguards which have long protected “some of the most vulnerable members of society to allow medically assisted suicide.”
“It is hard to fathom why this proposal is such an urgent priority and why parliament will proceed in haste even voting before Christmas,” the bishop writes.
“This is especially troubling when we recall that due to its dangers, assisted suicide was overwhelmingly rejected by the House of Commons only nine years ago. The proposal to be put before Parliament poses the same dangers and challenges the same moral foundations on which our laws have been based,” he says.
Davies says the prohibition against assisted suicide safeguards “a great good which has led us to value and hold human life sacred.”
“We can say that from the beginning, this command has formed our society at its best in the care of the sick, the aged and the most vulnerable,” he writes.
“The decision MPs are about to make is heralded as a historic vote because it threatens a momentous change to society in both its care and attitude to the sick and the aged. This change could be decided within a matter of weeks, allowing our parliamentary representatives little time to consider the enormity of the moral choice,” the bishop continues.
Freya Papworth, who supported legalized euthanasia before she became disabled told Disabled News Service that at the time, she thought assisted suicide was “nothing more than an individual’s right to choose their own death if faced with terminal pain and suffering.”
“Now that I am disabled and have spent time with other disabled people campaigning for basic rights, I cannot support the rather euphemistic ‘assisted dying’ bill. This country has been found to have committed human rights abuses against its disabled population due to the terrible consequences of decades of cuts to social welfare and social care,” she said.
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“There is no safety net to provide an alternative to pain and suffering and so there is not a chance that disabled people won’t be coerced into this. As we have seen in other countries, it is mostly disabled women – already at double the risk of domestic violence – who are ‘choosing’ to die this way and yet no-one is offering a robust solution to how we safeguard against medical and familial coercion,” Papworth told the news agency.
Davies says he is asking parishioners “to take urgent action” in contacting Members of Parliament to express opposition to “this dangerous proposal and to urge that greater support and resources be given to end of life, palliative care.”
Palliative care improves the quality of life of patients who have a serious or life-threatening disease, such as cancer, and can be given with or without curative care. Supported by the Church, palliative care is seen as an approach to care that addresses the person as a whole, not just their disease.
Davies says it is “surely a scandal” that hospices – care centers that provide palliative care for the dying – are often left in financial deficit and need.
“Today, I must also warn where crossing the moral boundary set by the command ‘You shall not kill’ will lead. Elsewhere in the world we have seen how similar laws permitting medical professionals to assist their patients in suicide have been extended wider and wider to encompass those with mental health problems and even young children,” the bishop said.
He said Britain has seen “a similar trajectory” since the passing of the Abortion Act of 1967, which initially was meant to deal with “hard cases” but now “has been tragically responsible for the destruction of many millions of human lives.”
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“As we see populations ageing across western countries with a diminished number of younger people to support them, this is an especially dangerous moment for politicians to open the door to euthanasia: The medical killing of the sick, the disabled and the elderly,” the bishop says.
“We already hear of a social duty to end our lives when we become a burden to others. This is not the kind of society in which we would wish to grow old or become vulnerable! If medical professionals, now sworn to protect the lives of patients, become those who assist in killing and suicide, how will our relationship change to those we look to for help and care?” Davies continues.
He said the “pre-Christian mind” may have thought it reasonable to dispose of a human life, but through the Christian centuries “we have seen how the command ‘You shall not kill,’ has protected the most vulnerable and led society to generously care for those at the end of their lives.”
The charity Not Dead Yet UK said it was “deeply concerned” about the upcoming debate.
“While proponents argue that this legislation would provide individuals with greater autonomy and choice at the end of life, we believe it poses significant risks to disabled people and other vulnerable populations,” the charity said.
Not Dead Yet UK said rather than legalizing assisted suicide, it believes the British government should focus on providing universal access to high-quality palliative and social care.
“For most patients, effective palliative care can alleviate the distressing symptoms associated with the dying process. However, too many people in the UK cannot access this essential care,” the charity says.
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