The Scottish First Minister has said he will vote against the assisted suicide Bill set to be debated in Scotland next week.
The Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill, which intends to legalise state-assisted suicide for residents of Scotland, is set to be voted on by MSPs on 13 May. Last week, the Bill sponsor, Liam McArthur, raised the minimum age for eligibility from 16 to 18 in an apparent attempt to gain support for his side.
However, this afternoon, First Minister John Swinney came out against the Bill, saying that he could not support it. He told BBC Scotland News “I’ve come to the conclusion that I can’t support [the legislation] because I’m worried that it would fundamentally change the relationships between patients and clinicians”.
“I’m worried that some of the vulnerable in our society might feel that they are a burden and that they may therefore opt or feel under pressure to end their life prematurely”.
Swinney said he had “agonised” over whether to support the Bill in a way he had not for previous attempts.
“I can’t separate myself from my own judgements”, he went on. “I also have my family perspective on this – my wife has a terminal condition and that is something we live with. I can’t for a moment suggest that these real factors have had no impact on the decision I’ve made”.
The Stage 1 vote next week will be the third time in the Scottish Parliament’s history that a vote will be held on assisted suicide.
The First Minister explained some of the specific difficulties he had with the Bill saying “I’m concerned that we don’t have a guarantee that the legislation could essentially extend in scope beyond the decision in principle”.
“I feel it’s wrongly principled to go down this route and that’s why I’ll vote against it on Tuesday”.
Assisted suicide age raised from 16 to 18
Swinney’s public opposition to the Bill comes just days after McArthur’s decision to raise the minimum age to access assisted suicide in the proposed Scottish legislation from 16 to 18.
According to The Sunday Times, McArthur was told by several MSPs that they would only give the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill their support if he raised the minimum age from 16 to 18. One of the Bill’s supporters described the raising of the minimum age as a “tactical retreat”, used by McArthur to ensure his Bill passed, and he would be prepared to make “other changes if required to get it through”. The unnamed parliamentarian said “The age thing was always there to be traded, a tactical retreat. Most of the detail is resolvable, and there will be other changes if required to get it through”.
Former Associate Professor of Bioethics at St Mary’s University, London, Dr Trevor Stammers, condemned this move, writing “Trading with the lives of teenagers does not commend the Bill”. Stammers also described this change to the Bill as “a last ditch effort to save the Bill” and said the offer of assisted suicide was “a chilling prospect at either age [16 or 18]”.
Critics said the move suggested a feeling of panic amongst McArthur and his team. Scottish Conservative Councillor James Bundy said “Supporters of the assisted dying Bill are panicking – raising the age from 16 to 18 won’t fix the risks, it just proves them. This Bill is flawed, unsafe, and open to legal challenge. MSPs must vote it down at Stage 1”.
Last year, Swinney himself said he had “significant concerns” about teenagers as young as 16 and 17 being able to end their lives under the Bill. Despite McArthur raising the age, Swinney will still not vote in favour of the Bill.
The First Minister’s statements also follow a report by Scotland’s Health, Social Care and Sport Committee, which directly identified significant flaws with the Bill.
One area of contention is the definition of terminal illness, which the Bill itself defines loosely, saying that it applies in cases in which someone has an “advanced and progressive disease, illness or condition from which they are unable to recover and that can reasonably be expected to cause their premature death”.
Under the Bill, anyone with a terminal condition that could foreseeably end their lives, even many decades in the future, would qualify for an assisted death, including those with conditions such as anorexia, Down’s syndrome, and people with disabilities.
Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, the first permanent wheelchair user in the Scottish Parliament, said “This report confirms what disabled people like me have warned all along: that once a line is crossed, it is incredibly difficult to stop that line moving. Make no mistake, this bill as drafted is very broadly drawn, it does not set a timescale on the definition of terminally ill, merely that someone must have a condition which could end in their premature death”.
“This is already worryingly wide but added to this, is the very real risk, identified by the committee, that this Bill could open the door to far wider interpretations – and it puts disabled people at unacceptable risk”.
Spokesperson for Right To Life UK, Catherine Robinson, said “The First Minister’s public opposition to the assisted suicide Bill in Scotland is a significant blow to the Bill’s supporters. He is right to say it will fundamentally change the relationship between patients and clinicians, and that it is a threat to vulnerable people who may feel pressured into ending their lives due to fear of being a burden”.
“Hopefully other MSPs will follow his example and vote against this legislation next week”.
