Resistance urged to assisted dying Bill

As a new Bill to make it easier for possibly terminally ill people to take their own lives comes before Parliament, Christians are being urged to mobilise against the proposed change in the law. The Private Members Bill, introduced into the House of Lords by Lord Joffe, would make it legal for doctors to prescribe fatal drugs to people who have asked to die. It is feared that this change will initiate a slippery slope towards legalised euthanasia.

The Church of England is backing two groups that have been formed to combat the Bill. Bishops, Peers and MPs have joined the All Party Parliamentary Group on Dying Well which has developed its own website www.dyingwell.org to raise support. Its aim is ‘to work for the resources, information and levels of care which are necessary for everyone in this country to have a comfortable natural death, and which enable the process of dying to be undertaken with the dignity and respect that each individual deserves.’

The Church of England, along with other faith groups, has joined the Care Not Killing Alliance, a coalition ‘bringing together human rights groups, healthcare groups, palliative care groups and faith-based organisations’. It intends to promote more and better palliative care and strongly opposes the weakening or repeal of existing laws against euthanasia and assisted suicide.

"One of the tests of a civilized society is to observe how it treats its most vulnerable citizens, including the seriously disabled or very elderly," said Dr Brian Iddon, MP for Bolton South East, and Chair of the Care Not Killing Alliance. "To legalise assisted suicide would put immense pressures on such people to ease the burden on their carers by seeking assisted suicide. That can't be right."

"The alternative to assisted suicide is for society as a whole to provide for people at their time of greatest need," he added. "For the very elderly, particularly for those with incurable diseases, more palliative care has to be provided within the NHS and not just by the charitable hospice movement. All of us have to be prepared to pay for that."

The Church of England urges people to join Care Not Killing’s public petition campaign and to write to the press and local MPs.

To find out more see

www.dyingwell.org.uk

www.carenotkilling.org.uk