Pope St John Paul II once remarked that in our celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ we bear witness that every human is “somebody unique and unrepeatable…somebody thought of and chosen from eternity”.
For most of us, Christmas is a time to give thanks for life – we cherish our loved ones and look out for those in need, particularly the sick and vulnerable.
But not everyone is promoting that message of hope this Christmas. The assisted suicide lobby are using the run up to Christmas to promote their campaign, in the hope of changing the law in 2024. We’ve seen celebrity interviews, newspaper features, and even the Leader of the Opposition backing calls to introduce assisted suicide. Gloomy headlines about Esther Rantzen’s wish to go to Dignitas in Switzerland have punctuated the usual Christmas cheer. What exactly is going on?
The assisted suicide lobby, led by the campaign group Dignity in Dying, have sensed an opportunity and they are not going to let any festivities get in their way. Despite attempts to change the law on assisted suicide being spectacularly defeated in the House of Commons in 2015 (330 to 118), Conservative MP Kit Malthouse, former Secretary of State for Education, claims the mood of the House has now changed.
Malthouse’s evidence? From “working” the House of Commons tea rooms apparently. While one could brush off such bravado, there are reasons to take his claims seriously. Malthouse has a Ten Minute Rule Motion scheduled for 24 January 2024 in the House of Commons. While Malthouse has, at the time of writing, yet to announce his topic for discussion, I think we can make a sensible prediction on the subject matter, based on conversations he’s been having with colleagues while they enjoy their afternoon tea and scones.
A Ten Minute Rule Motion is one of the mechanisms a backbench MP has to introduce legislation into the House of Commons. Most are not given sufficient time to be debated and are thrown out. However, with sufficient cross-party backing, they can see the light of day and even make it onto the statute book – with 60 such cases occurring between 1945 and 2010.
Usually, though, such motions are more likely to be used to gauge support amongst MPs and garner momentum. If a cause is deemed to be popular, then a Private Members Bill can be introduced, which is much more likely to pass through both houses (depending on its place in the ballot). We must not forget that it was through a Private Members Bill that the Abortion Act was introduced in 1967. This is perhaps what the assisted suicide lobby are hoping for.
Why should we be on guard? You only have to look at countries who have gone down this bleak path to see where it leads. When Canada legalised medically assisted death in 2016, it was only available to the terminally ill or those whose death was “reasonably foreseeable”. By 2021, it was responsible for 3.3 per cent of all deaths in Canada, and from March 2024 will be made available for those suffering from a mental health condition, including individuals with substance abuse issues. Today, a quarter of all Canadians back lethal injections for the poor and homeless.
One of the reasons the UK has been able to hold back the tide of assisted suicide for so long is because of our proud history of palliative care and the modern hospice movement, led by the great Dame Cicely Saunders during the 1950s. Since her death in 2005, her legacy has been crumbling due to the shocking current lack of resources for palliative care.
According to the Association of Palliative Medicine, one in four families are not able to access the end of life care they need. With only one third of hospice care being funded by the State, the rest has to be picked up by charities. As Amol Rajan challenged Health Minister Victoria Atkins this week on the BBC Today Programme: “That’s not really a sign of a civilised society is it?“
It is possible to die with dignity and we should never let anyone feel a burden, or that their only option is death. As Dame Saunders once said:
“You matter because you are you, and you matter to the end of your life. We will do all we can not only to help you die peacefully, but also to live until you die.“
Photo: A member of the French collective ‘Relieve but not kill’ (‘Soulager mais pas tuer’ in French) during a gathering to protest against the legalisation of euthanasia or assisted suicide, following a citizen consultation about the end-of-life in Lille, northern France, 4 April 2023. On 3 April 2023, President Emmanuel Macron called for a law on a ‘French model on the end of life’. (Photo by SAMEER AL-DOUMY/AFP via Getty Images.)
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