REDSTATE | Published December 1, 2029
The latest news out of Great Britain is disheartening: by a vote of 330 to 275, British lawmakers approved a bill that could open the door to state-sanctioned assisted suicide in England and Wales. The vote came after hours of emotional debate in Parliament, with those in favor of the bill arguing it would end the suffering of terminally ill patients and those against it warning it could lead to a slippery slope of unintended consequences.
Supporters said the law would provide dignity to the dying and prevent unnecessary suffering, while ensuring there are enough safeguards to prevent those near the end of their lives from being coerced into taking their own life. Opponents said it would put vulnerable people at risk, potentially coerced, directly or indirectly, to end their lives so they don’t become a burden.
Supporters of the bill argued that no one should have to endure a painful death, and that assisted suicide would bring dignity to dying.
Tory Member of Parliament Danny Kruger, who led the opposition to the bill, said Parliament should do better for his nation’s terminally ill people than to provide a “state suicide service,” and that they should, instead, offer them safeguards, such as palliative care, as they face their final days.
Kruger continued:
“We are the safeguard, this place, this Parliament, you and me. We are the people who protect the most vulnerable in society from harm and yet we stand on the brink of abandoning that role.”
MP Kruger recently wrote that the bill, technically called the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, was unnecessary since anyone in the U.K., including the terminally ill, could end their lives at any time, or, as he put it, “We are all within six months of death if we choose to be.”
The more caring and dignified thing, argued Kruger, would be to provide better end-of-life palliative care services.
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SOURCE: www.redstate.com
RELATED: British lawmakers approve hotly contested assisted suicide bill — despite alarming stories of sudden changes of heart
British lawmakers gave initial approval to a bill that allows mentally competent, terminally ill adults in England and Wales to have the right to end their lives.
AP
THE NEW YORK POST | Published December 1, 2029
British lawmakers gave initial approval Friday to a hotly contested assisted suicide bill — despite alarming stories of people in other countries changing their minds moments before they would have died.
Members of Parliament approved the so-called “assisted dying bill” by a vote of 330 to 275 after hours of scathing debate from both sides as hundreds of supporters and detractors rallied outside.
The controversial legislation would allow mentally competent adults in England and Wales who have been given less than six months to live the right to request help to humanely end their lives.
Friday’s vote approves the bill in principle, meaning it will be kicked back to Parliament for further consideration. Similar legislation was shot down at this stage in 2015.
Similar measures have been passed in parts of the US, Canada, Australia and Switzerland — although some people have reportedly changed their minds about taking their own lives at the last moment.
In one particularly alarming case, a 22-year-old Dutch woman only identified as Romy said she changed her mind about dying at the very last moment — as the doctor about to give the lethal injection asked a final, “Are you sure?”
Despite being a long-time campaigner for the right to die — and having even seen the coffin that awaited her — Romy said she started to cry at the ultimate reality, and called off her death.
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SOURCE: www.nypost.com
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