Select Page

Press comment – Large number of MPs speak out against assisted suicide

PRESS COMMENT - Large number of MPs speak out against assisted suicide

PRESS COMMENT – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Large number of MPs speak out against assisted suicide

29 April 2024 – This afternoon a large number of MPs spoke out against introducing assisted suicide during a Westminster Hall Debate on assisted suicide. 

Spokesperson for Right To Life UK, Catherine Robinson, said:

“A large number of MPs have today spoken out against introducing assisted suicide or euthanasia. Many of them raised serious concerns that legalising assisted suicide would pressurise the elderly, sick and vulnerable into ending their lives for fear of being a burden”.

“The debate on assisted suicide appears to be a policy area in which there is a genuine debate and sincere change of mind. Labour’s Shadow Minister for Disabilities Vicky Foxcroft, who voted in favour of assisted suicide in 2015, has since changed her mind and now opposes the practice due to concerns raised by people with disabilities who fear they will be adversely affected by a change in legislation”.

“This particular debate is largely symbolic but is an opportunity for MPs and the public to learn from the mistakes of other jurisdictions such as Canada, where safeguards are rapidly being eroded including the removal of the requirement that a person be terminally ill to be eligible for an ‘assisted death’ and the planned expansion of ‘assisted dying’ on the grounds of mental illness alone from 2027”.

“Furthermore, the recent case of a Dutch woman who was granted and planned her own death due to her mental health struggles is a real wake-up call to our legislators who should recognise how assisted suicide legislation can become a form of state-approved death in response to despair”.

“Every debate on assisted suicide is a chance to show where this legislation almost inevitably leads. Instead of assistance in death, people experiencing suicidal ideation need comfort, support and love to alleviate the suffering as far as possible, not the offer of death”.

ENDS