Care Not Killing welcomes government move to tighten law on assisted suicide and warns about attempts to smuggle in changes that will create loopholes for abuse.
On Monday (26 January) the Government’s Coroners and Justice (C & J) Bill will have its Second Reading in the House of Commons. This Bill covers a wide range of issues, but one of its aims is to update and tighten the law that prohibits assistance with suicide in order to make clear that it applies to the internet and to the encouragement of suicide generally as well as in relation to specific persons. There is concern that internet websites promoting suicide may have been a factor in the recent spate of suicides in and around Bridgend.
There have also been some worrying examples of unacceptable behaviour in the media. A December edition of Panorama, for instance, drew attention to ‘suicide hoods’ and their availability from Canada and to lethal drugs which could be obtained in South America and used for suicidal purposes. The Government is right to be concerned about such risks to public safety and to introduce amendments to the 1961 Suicide Act to tighten up the law to protect the most vulnerable members of society.
It is to be hoped therefore that these provisions will have unanimous support in Parliament and that certain pressure groups will not try to take advantage of this much-needed updating of the law in order to promote their own ends. Certain MPs and Peers have indicated that they may try to use the passage of the C & J Bill through Parliament as a vehicle for arguing their case for further changes to the Suicide Act in order to allow assistance with suicide for seriously ill people.
While the views of such people may be respected, it would be both absurd and irresponsible to ask Parliament to consider amendments to loosen the law on suicide in the context of a Bill which is designed, with good reason, to tighten it against abuse. Those who want to see what they euphemistically call ‘assisted dying’ legalised should reflect that Parliament has not, after three extensive debates in the last five years, been persuaded that it is either necessary or safe to allow such a practice.
If campaigners feel it necessary to make yet another attempt, they should bring a Private Member’s Bill to Parliament which makes plain its intent to all rather than try to smuggle such a fundamental and controversial change in the law into a Government Bill that is seeking to increase the safety of the public rather than create loopholes for abuse.
Also read ‘Crime or Compassion’
Notes for Editors
Coroners’ and Justice Bill
http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2008-09/coronersandjustice.html
Care Not Killing is a UK-based alliance bringing together around 50 organisations – human rights and disability rights organisations, health care and palliative care groups, faith-based organisations groups – and thousands of concerned individuals.
We have three key aims:
• to promote more and better palliative care;
• to ensure that existing laws against euthanasia and assisted suicide are not weakened or repealed during the lifetime of the current Parliament;
• to inform public opinion further against any weakening of the law.
We seek to attract the broadest support among health care professionals, allied health services and others opposed to euthanasia by campaigning on the basis of powerful arguments underpinned by the latest, well-researched and credible evidence.
Key groups signed up to Care Not Killing include: The Association for Palliative Medicine, the United Kingdom Disabled People’s Council, RADAR, the Christian Medical Fellowship, the Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales, the Church of England and the Medical Ethics Alliance.
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