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The issue of Assisted Suicide will return to the Houses of Parliament later this month, following the failure of MP Kim Leadbeater’s Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill to make it through the necessary legislative stages in time to be legalised.
A new Private Members Bill, which is identical to Kim Leadbeater’s 2024 legislation, was reintroduced to Parliament by Labour MP Lauren Edwards in June, with Members of Parliament facing a vitally important vote on Friday 11 September which will determine whether Assisted Suicide moves closer to becoming law, or is rejected.
The Catholic Church teaches that every human life from conception to natural death is sacred, with the dignity and value of every person central to a moral vision for society. Assisted Suicide is strongly opposed by the Church with bishops across Scotland, England & Wales calling for better provision and funding for palliative care which aims to manage pain and other symptoms, looking after a person’s emotional, practical, and psychological needs while supporting their loved ones.
Speaking in June, Prime Minister Andy Burnham (who plans to abstain in September’s vote) suggested it would be difficult to implement Assisted Suicide before social and palliative care were improved. At present, the hospice sector faces significant financial pressures, with the UK Government providing just a third of the sector’s running costs and local fundraising teams expected to make up the shortfall.
Palliative Medicine Consultant Dominic Whitehouse lives in our Diocese. Experienced in health reconstruction and development, he has worked in war zones and during tropical disease outbreaks, including Ebola. Speaking in a personal capacity at a talk on Assisted Suicide held at St Michael’s Catholic Church in Worthing, he said:
“MP Lauren Edwards’ Bill arrives at a time when the wider National Health Service (NHS) is in crisis. Patients are facing increasing delays in seeing General Practitioners (GPs), with long waiting lists for treatment and support services – not least for mental health.
"The strong arguments being made in favour of Assisted Suicide don’t answer the right question; we must protect and improve the provision of ethical end-of-life care.
“Dame Cicely Saunders (1918–2005) revolutionised the way our society cares for the sick, the dying and the bereaved, based on the belief that each person matters to the end of their life. Palliative Care Teams do all they can to help people die peacefully and with dignity, but also to live before they die.
“If your MP voted against theTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill last time, please write to them, thank them, and ask that they maintain their position on 11 September. If they voted in favour of the previous Bill, then sharing your personal views or experience can really help. We don’t have to kill the patient to end their pain; how people die lives on in the memory of those who survive them, you can change MPs’ minds and get results.”
56 MPs changed their voting position between the second and third readings of Kim Leadbetter’s Bill, with 14 MPs changing their vote from yes to no. To find out who your MP is click here and visit the UK Parliament website before 11 September’s vote.
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