As the British Parliament prepares to have its final vote on legalising assisted suicide, Cardinal Vincent Nichols noted the “deeply flawed process undergone” in pushing the legislation. Source: Crux.
The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill is making its way through the committee stage in Parliament, and sponsor MP Kim Leadbeater has asked for a series of amendments concerning the role of doctors and the reporting of assisted suicides.
Cardinal Nichols, the archbishop of Westminster and president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, said: “As I have made clear earlier in this debate, as Catholics, we have maintained a principled objection to this change in law, recognising that every human life is sacred, coming as a gift of God and bearing a God-given dignity.
“We are, therefore, clearly opposed to this bill in principle, elevating, as it does, the autonomy of the individual above all other considerations.”
In a statement released on Tuesday, the cardinal noted the passage of the bill through Parliament will lead to a vote in late April on whether it progresses any further.
“At this point, we wish not simply to restate our objections in principle but to emphasise the deeply flawed process undergone in Parliament thus far,” he said.
“We wish to remind you that it is a fundamental duty of every MP to ensure that legislation is not imposed on our society which has not been properly scrutinised and which will bring about damaging consequences,” Cardinal Nichols continued.
Cardinal Nichols said the bill “fundamentally changes” many of the key relationships in the way of life in Britain, “within the family, between doctor and patient, within the health service.”
He said that in almost every country where assisted suicide has been introduced the current scope is wider than was originally intended.
“Can MPs guarantee that no medical practitioner or care worker would be compelled to take part in assisted suicide? Would this mean the establishment of a ‘national death service’?”
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British cardinal says proposed legalisation on assisted suicide ‘deeply flawed’ (By Charles Collins, Crux)
