In just over five weeks, MPs will have the opportunity to vote on whether to legalise assisted suicide. This will be the most significant vote on life issues in a generation.
First, we wanted to let you know how we arrived so quickly at having a vote on assisted suicide.
Last month, news reports revealed that the Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, was “paving the way” for a Bill on assisted suicide to be “rushed into law”.
Labour MP Kim Leadbeater came first in the Private Members’ Bill ballot, allowing her to be able to introduce the first Private Members’ Bill into the House of Commons. It then appears she caved in to pressure from Starmer and the assisted suicide lobby to take forward a Bill to legalise assisted suicide.
The Leadbeater assisted suicide Bill was then introduced to Parliament last Wednesday and now we are faced with a vote on assisted suicide on 29 November 2024.
Our nation is now on the verge of a monumental shift in how we treat human life and the vulnerable, in a similar way to what we faced two generations ago in 1967 when the Abortion Act was introduced, also by a Private Members’ Bill.
If assisted suicide is legalised, hundreds of thousands of vulnerable lives will be at risk over the coming decades.
We only have five weeks left to stop this.
THE GOOD NEWS
Starting with the good news. It’s really important to emphasise that, although this is going to be a massive battle over these coming five weeks, this fight is winnable.
In 2015, we faced a similar fight when then-MP Rob Marris introduced a Bill to legalise assisted suicide.
We worked alongside a large group of MPs, Peers and other organisations on one of the largest pro-life campaigns in UK history, defeating the Bill by an overwhelming 330 to 118 votes.
Since then, there have been attempts to introduce assisted suicide through the House of Lords that have failed – and both MPs and the public are now far more aware of the massive problems that are happening overseas under assisted suicide and euthanasia laws that have been introduced since 2015.
The horror stories that are coming out of Canada are likely the ones that you are most familiar with. These include:
- army veterans with PTSD being offered ‘Medical Assistance In Dying’ (MAID)
- patients citing poverty or housing uncertainty as their main reason for seeking to end their lives through ‘MAID’
- numbers spiralling out of control: in 2016 when ‘MAID’ was introduced, there were just over 1,000 cases but by 2022 this escalated to 13,241 deaths, accounting for 4.1% of all deaths in Canada.
- Canada is now on the verge of introducing euthanasia and assisted suicide for people with mental health issues, with this change in the law coming into effect in March 2027.
There is also truly shocking evidence coming out of other countries and jurisdictions that have introduced assisted suicide and/or euthanasia.
We also know from the battle in 2015, and all the work that we have done in Parliament on this issue since then, that when we get the opportunity to get this undeniable evidence in front of MPs, so they see that the claimed ‘safeguards’ around assisted suicide laws just don’t work, they vote overwhelmingly against introducing assisted suicide.
THE BAD NEWS
Now the bad news.
Although we are in a good position to win, this is going to be a much tougher and bigger battle than 2015 for three reasons:
- Bad news – “Dignity” in Dying. To attempt to secure this law change, the assisted suicide lobby (led by the multi-million-pound outfit, Dignity in Dying, along with several other organisations, including My Death, My Decision and Humanists UK) have spent millions of pounds preparing for this battle.
You will have seen that they are running a very large campaign, which is being rolled out across the media, on the internet, and through grassroots campaigning.
This is a far larger and better-organised campaign from our very well-funded opposition than we faced in 2015. - Bad news – Keir Starmer. As covered above, the Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, is backing this law change.
If reports are correct, his backing has already resulted in this law change being brought forward as the first-ranked Private Members’ Bill.
Although this will be a free vote for Labour MPs, meaning they can vote in accordance with their conscience, it also means that the 403 Labour MPs, at a minimum, will come under tacit pressure to follow Labour leader and Prime Minister, Keir Starmer’s lead in supporting the Bill.
In addition to this, if the Bill passes the vote at Second Reading, Keir Starmer can ensure that the Government gives the Bill time to pass all stages in the Commons and Lords to become law.
This means that it is more important than ever that the Bill is defeated at the Second Reading vote on 29 November. - Bad news – Lost pro-life MPs. At the general election, we lost a large number of MPs who previously voted against assisted suicide and so the big risk in this battle lies among the 335 newly elected MPs, the majority of whom are Labour MPs.
Many of these new MPs will have only heard from the assisted suicide lobby’s constant messaging that is covered extensively in the media.
We therefore have five weeks to ensure they hear the other side of this debate – through the media, from you, their constituents, and directly from the right voices in parliament.
The stakes could not be higher.
We are not exaggerating when we say this: if this extreme proposal to change our laws passes, hundreds of thousands of vulnerable lives will be at risk over the coming decades.
We cannot allow this to happen on our watch.
WE CAN STOP THIS MAJOR THREAT – BUT ONLY WITH YOUR HELP
As you can see, we are facing the biggest battle on life issues in a generation.
To defeat this major threat, we are about to launch the largest campaign we have ever run as an organisation.
This is going to come at a major cost and we need to raise the money now for this campaign to be successful. Thanks to your generosity during our last appeal for funding, we have already been able to make a start on our campaign.
However, to ensure we effectively defeat this extreme assisted suicide Bill over the coming five weeks, we are aiming to raise at least £100,000 by midnight this Sunday (27 October 2024).
This is the minimum we are looking to raise. If we can raise more, we’ll be able to do much more to win this battle.
We are, therefore, appealing to you to please give as generously as you can. Every donation, no matter how small, will make a crucial difference in saving vulnerable lives from this extreme law change.
By stopping these threats, YOU can save vulnerable lives from an extreme assisted suicide law.
Will you make a donation now to help protect vulnerable lives from this major threat?
Thank you for your unwavering support and for standing with us to defend so many vulnerable lives during this critical time