Precious Life welcome Faith Leaders' unity against assisted suicide Bill
Precious Life have welcomed the unity of Faith Leaders across the UK who have taken a stand against the assisted suicide Bill.
Cardinal Vincent Nichols has signed a joint letter with the UK’s religious leaders opposing the assisted suicide Bill.
The Archbishop of Westminster and president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales put his name to the open letter warning MPs of the dangers of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, which will be put to a vote at Second Reading on Friday.
The letter asserts the role of hospital chaplains in caring for sick and dying people before expressing deep concern “about the impact the Bill would have on the most vulnerable, opening up the possibility of life-threating abuse and coercion”.
“This is a concern we know is shared by many people, with and without faith,” said the letter, which was also signed by former Chief Nursing Officer Sarah Mullally, the Bishop of London on behalf of the Church of England, and Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis.
“In the UK, it is estimated that 2.7 million older people have been subjected to abuse; many of these may also be vulnerable to pressure to end their lives prematurely,” the letter said.
“Disability campaigners and those working with women in abusive relationships have also highlighted the danger of unintended consequences should the law be changed.
“The experience of jurisdictions which have introduced similar legislation, such as Oregon and Canada, demonstrate how tragic these unintended consequences can be.
“Promised safeguards have not always protected the vulnerable and marginalised.
“Even when surrounded by loving family and friends, people towards the end of their life can still feel like a burden. This is especially the case while adult social care remains underfunded.”
The letter said: “In this environment, it is easy to see how a ‘right to die’ could all too easily end in feeling you have a duty to die.
“We are convinced that the current law provides much greater security for those who are vulnerable than the Bill before Parliament – a Bill which MPs will have had only three weeks to scrutinise before they vote on it.
“The most effective safeguard against life-threatening coercion or abuse is to keep the law as it is.”
The letter added: “We believe that a truly compassionate response to the end of life lies in the provision of high-quality palliative care services to all who need them.
“While there are many examples of excellent palliative care in this country, it remains worryingly underfunded.
“Investment in palliative care is the policy of a truly compassionate nation. It is the way to ensure that everyone in society, including the most vulnerable, receive the care they deserve at the end of life.”
The letter was also signed by Orthodox and Coptic Christian leaders as well as the leading representatives of the Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, Evangelical and Zoroastrian communities. The full list of signatories can be read here:
The letter from the faith leaders comes a fortnight after Lord Carey of Clifton, a former Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury, joined a rump of other dissenting religious figures to voice his support for the Bill to decriminalise assisted suicide.
At present assisting in a suicide is prohibited by the 1961 Suicide Act and can carry a penalty of up to 14 years in prison.
The free vote on Friday will be the first on assisted suicide since 2015 when a Bill introduced by Labour MP Rob Marris was rejected by 330 votes to 118.
The Bill seeks to permit terminally ill patients deemed to have less six months to live to kill themselves with lethal drugs prescribed by their doctors.
Kim Leadbeater, the backbench Labour MP who has introduced the Bill, has moved to assure waverers that her Bill provide the “strictest protections of anywhere in the world” but already a group of more than 50 MPs say the safeguards are too tight and are pushing for broader access to assisted suicide.
The Bill has split the Cabinet, with at least eight of 26 senior ministers expected to vote against it.
They include Health Secretary Wes Streeting, Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood, Foreign Secretary David Lammy, Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, Chief Secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones, and Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson, a Catholic.
The 11 Cabinet ministers planning to vote for the Bill are Lisa Nandy, Yvette Cooper, Ed Miliband, Hilary Benn, Liz Kendall, Louise Haigh, Lucy Powell, Pat McFadden, Jo Stevens, Peter Kyle and Sir Alan Campbell.
The bishops of England and Wales have repeatedly called on Catholics to actively oppose the assisted suicide Bill by urging their MPs to vote against it.
Earlier this month they issued a joint statement with the Scottish bishops called Be Compassionate in which they warned of the clear dangers in the legislation.
Cardinal Nichols, Archbishop Mark O’Toole of Cardiff and Menevia and Bishops Mark Davies of Shrewsbury, Patrick McKinney of Nottingham, Marcus Stock of Leeds, Paul Swarbrick of Lancaster, Peter Collins of East Anglia and Richard Moth of Arundel and Brighton have all written pastoral letters encouraging Catholics of their dioceses to take action.
In his letter, Bishop Philip Egan of Portsmouth said that the ideology behind assisted suicide was comparable to Nazism.
The failure of Catholics to act, he said, would be to “capitulate to the very ideology Britain fought against in the Second World War”.
“If we yield to this and permit killing, we will cross a line from which there is no return,” he said. “Like using nuclear weapons, once deployed, it’s too late – there’s only escalation … It would inexorably lead to euthanasia, the right to make another person die.”
Bishop Egan, Cardinal Nichols and Archbishop John Wilson of Southwark have each made videos appealing to voters to act.
- - - TAKE ACTION - - -
Contact your MP and urge them to uphold the dignity and sanctity of human life by voting against the assisted suicide Bill.
You can send a message to your MP by entering your postcode at the WRITE TO THEM website…
Contact Precious Life if you require any help finding your MP's contact details. Tel: 028 9027 8484