Assisted suicide is currently illegal in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, carrying a maximum 14-year prison sentence.Wednesday saw the introduction of a new bill in the UK parliament that would legalise assisted dying in England and Wales. Opponents and prominent church leaders are worried about the consequences of letting the terminally ill die according to their wishes.
On Labour MP Kim Leadbeater’s Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, members of the House of Commons will have a free vote, enabling them to cast their votes based on moral principles rather than party affiliation.Although specifics are still pending, The Times reported that, should the law pass, a patient’s request to end their life would probably require approval from two physicians and a judge, and would only be granted to those who had six to twelve months to live.
Assisted Dying Bill Introduced In UK Parliament
Both supporters and opponents of the bill were expected to speak outside parliament, where a bill legalising assisted suicide was last discussed and ultimately defeated in the Commons in 2015.Assisted suicide is currently illegal in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, carrying a maximum 14-year prison sentence.
It is not a specific crime in Scotland, which has a different legal system and devolved authority to establish its own health policy. However, it may expose a person to additional charges, such as murder.Leadbeater stated in an interview with The Times that her bill represented a change in the public’s perception of assisted dying, which has been legalised to varied degrees.She was quoted as saying, “I am very clear the law needs to change, having met those families who have horrendous stories of loved ones suicide, horrible painful deaths, or going to other countries.”She went on, saying, “People deserve a choice and they have not got that,” assuring the core of the bill of “safeguards and protections.”
A campaign spearheaded by the terminally ill former BBC television presenter Esther Rantzen has given impetus to the debate.”Dangerous”Proposed legislation is opposed by certain disability rights organisations and Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the highest ranking Roman Catholic cleric in the United Kingdom, who has encouraged his followers to write their members of parliament to oppose the change.Tuesday night, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, the head of the global Anglican communion, referred to the plan as a “dangerous… slippery slope” that could be utilised by people who are not terminally sick.
As one of the 26 “lords spiritual,” or senior Church of England clerics, who sit in the upper house of the House of Lords, Welby will have a vote on the issue.Alistair Thompson, of the anti-euthanasia organisation Care Not Killing, added that if the legislation were to change, the nation might end up like Belgium and the Netherlands, both of which have allowed minors to participate in assisted suicide.We are aware that proposing legislation allowing assisted suicide would force many people to take their own lives before they should,” he told AFP.
On November 29, Members of Parliament are scheduled to discuss and vote on Leadbeater’s bill; however, since she introduced it as a private member’s bill rather than as a part of the government’s legislative agenda, it is difficult to predict how the vote will go.Earlier this year, in Edinburgh, a bill to legalise assisted suicide in Scotland was introduced in the Scottish Parliament.Legislation to grant terminally ill patients the right to die is also being passed in the self-governing British Crown Dependencies of Jersey and the Isle of Man, which are not a part of the United Kingdom.
In 2002, Belgium and the Netherlands became the first nations in the EU to legalise euthanasia.Portugal legalised medically assisted suicide and euthanasia for patients with terminal illnesses in 2023 after Spain did so in 2021.