There’s still cause for hope on assisted suicide

When Kim Leadbeater MP announced she would bring forward an assisted suicide bill, my first thought was this legislation had every chance of passing.

Yes, MPs voted 330-118 against the last assisted suicide bill in the House of Commons, but that was back in September 2015 and nine years is a long time in politics. There are hundreds of new MPs and also a Prime Minister in Sir Keir Starmer who openly supports assisted suicide. In fact, we know No 10 offered to support Ms Leadbeater to introduce an assisted suicide bill because Starmer promised Esther Rantzen there would be a parliamentary vote.

For all these reasons, it is clear this debate and likely vote on 29 November is a much bigger challenge than September 2015. I know a few Christian leaders who feel that it is inevitable. A colleague told me that, humanly speaking, this Bill will likely pass. But some recent events have reminded me that it is absolutely not a done deal. The bill can be defeated.

One reason for cautious optimism is that the Welsh Parliament has just voted against a pro-assisted suicide motion by 26-19, with nine abstentions. Opponents included the Welsh First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Health. Labour MSs were evenly split. If the same happened in the Commons, there would be enough votes, probably, to see the legislation defeated.

Another reason is that two senior Ministers in the UK Government have publicly said that they will vote against the legislation. The first was Shabana Mahmood, the Justice Secretary. This week, she was joined by the Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, who said he would vote against a change in the law because of the state of the NHS. The Government’s justice and health chiefs – the ones who’d be responsible for implementing an assisted suicide law – are signalling strong opposition to it. That’s highly significant a month out from the big debate.

A third reasons for optimism is the strength of the arguments against changing the law. What is being proposed is no mere tweak or adjustment. It is the thin end of a dangerous wedge with every possibility that the law would be expanded in the future. An assisted suicide law represents a fundamental shift in the doctor and patient relationship, introducing for the first time a new element where the state is empowered to help some people kill themselves.

If you look at what has happened in Canada, you notice that legalising assisted suicide has changed the culture – fast. Not only have numbers increased to the point where ‘MAID’ (Medical Assistance In Dying) is now the fifth most common cause of death in Canada, but safeguards have vanished and the criteria for eligibility has been expanded. It’s been less than a decade since the law was first changed.

Assisted suicide represents a fundamental shift where the state is empowered to help some people kill themselves

It was in Canada that a former paralympic athlete who wanted a stairlift was sent information about assisted suicide. It was in Canada where a recent report said poor people were choosing assisted suicide in disproportionate numbers. What proof is there that we will not see the same outcomes here? The answer is ‘none’. No safeguard can absolutely ensure that there will not be abuses, and expansion. The only sure way to avoid this is not to legalise ‘assisted dying’ at all. This is what Westminster has concluded in the past, and what it may well conclude again.

When Kim Leadbeater wrote for the Guardian about her bill, she argued that people currently face an insidious choice. They must either die a terrible death or pay a lot of money and travel to Dignitas in Switzerland. But this is an entirely false choice. It is unintentionally misleading at best, and downright deceptive at worst. The truth is patients can access palliative care. This holistic form of care not only manages pain but seeks care for the whole person. It isn’t perfect, and professionals engaged in this area of medicine are calling for more investment and support. But this is an ethical response to terminal illness that can be bolstered.

The Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, is right about existing care. The UK remains a world leader on palliative care, but only just. With our NHS creaking at the seams, now is not the time to try and rush through a dangerous assisted suicide law with all the consequences of doing so.

From a Christian perspective, it is never compassionate to help someone kill themselves. But it is compassionate to draw alongside sufferers and support their needs. The story of the Good Samaritan provides a beautiful picture of what this kind and costly care looks like. We strive to carry one another’s burdens (Galatians 6:10), and do good to all.

If you’ve not yet written to your MP to urge them to vote against assisted suicide, can I urge you to do so? A change in the law is not inevitable. The Welsh Parliament rejected it. The Health and Justice Secretaries are against it. Now is the time to contact your MP and urge them to stay on the right side of history. Vote no to assisted suicide. Vote yes to better palliative care.