British citizens ‘confused’ over definition of assisted suicide ahead of Parliament vote

LEICESTER, United Kingdom – Britain’s leading Catholic bioethics organization says there is “widespread confusion” about the issue of legalizing assisted suicide in England and Wales.

On Friday, Labour MP Kim Leadbeater’s Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill will be voted on in the UK Parliament. Although new Prime Minister Keir Starmer has supported legalizing assisted suicide, he has offered members of parliament a “free vote” on the issue.

The Anscombe Bioethics Centre, associated with the Catholic Church in Britain, says the campaign to legalize assisted suicide in England and Wales claims that a clear majority of the public are in favor of it, but their new briefing “reveals that the headlines do not reflect a far more complicated reality: only a minority strongly support legalization, fewer than half want MPs to vote in favor, and very few people think this should be a priority for the Government.”

“Evidence from bi-monthly tracker surveys and from the British Social Attitudes survey shows that public opinion on ‘assisted suicide’ has remained largely stable over recent years. There has been no groundswell of opinion in favor. If anything, there has been a decline in those who ‘strongly support’ a change in the law, down from 49 percent to 31 percent,” says the report, entitled Counterfeit Consensus: The Ambivalence of Public Opinion on Assisted Suicide.

The report also says there is also “widespread confusion” about assisted suicde, with surveys showing between 39 percent and 42 percent of people think that “assisted dying” refers to withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment, as opposed to the application of death-causing drugs.

“By analyzing several different surveys and polls, including two new surveys published in the past week, the paper shows that public opinion on assisted suicide has remained quite stable over recent years,” said Professor David Albert Jones, the director of the Anscombe Bioethics Centre.

“There has been no dramatic increase of those in favor of changing the law to justify proposing another bill so soon after the last one was defeated in 2015. If anything, there has been a decline in those who ‘strongly support’ legalizing assisted suicide,” he said.

The latest report says when people look more deeply into the data gathered by the latest polls on assisted suicide, they find that “the public are not strongly committed one way or another as the headlines would suggest, but rather they have conflicting opinions on this issue.”

“The picture they reveal is much more complicated than the headlines claim: only a minority strongly support legalization, fewer than half want MPs to vote in favor, and very few people think this should be a priority for the Government,” the Anscombe Bioethics Centre document states.

It also notes those in minority communities – such as Muslim, Asian, and Black communities – are more likely to be cautious.

“They know whom the system favors and who tends to bear most of the risk,” the report says.

The opposition to the proposed law was also voiced in an open letter to the British Medical Journal signed by over a dozen people.

“Research suggests assisted dying laws have already led to preventable deaths of young people with eating disorders in multiple countries. At least 60 individuals with eating disorders have died through physician-assisted death, including in jurisdictions limiting the practice to terminal conditions. Of these, one-third involved women under 30. These deaths raise profound ethical concerns, as many patients were severely depressed or suicidal when deemed eligible,” the letter states.

“The proposed bill aims to restrict eligibility to terminal illness — in practice, this safeguard is porous. In Oregon US, officials interpret “terminal illness” as any condition expected to cause death within six months if untreated. Patients with non-terminal conditions can become terminal by choosing to forego life-extending treatments, such as dialysis. This has led to deaths in patients with non-terminal conditions; including anorexia, arthritis, and hernias. The wording of the proposed U.K. bill similarly allows for this broad interpretation, offering minimal protection to vulnerable patients,” the document adds.

Meanwhile, the Anscombe Bioethics Centre noted nations and states that have legalized assisted suicide show “clear indications in several jurisdictions of palliative and end-of-life care deteriorating in quality and provision.”

Jones said members of Parliament should vote on the basis of their own consciences and what they judge to be best for the common good, “but they need not fear acting against what is claimed to be the strong opinions of the people.”

“They can be reassured that most of their constituents are likely to be divided on this issue, confused about what exactly is being proposed, and uncertain about whether it can be safely implemented,” said the director of the Anscombe Bioethics Centre.

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