Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster. Photo: CNS/Paul Haring If assisted suicide is legalised in Britain, “a key protection of human life falls away”, according to Cardinal Vincent Nichols, President of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales and Archbishop of Westminster.
In a statement that was read to all his parishes last weekend, the English cardinal says the right to die “can become a duty to die”.
Last week, Labour MP Kim Leadbeater announced she was introducing a private members Bill allowing terminally ill, mentally competent people to end their own life with a doctor’s assistance.
Labour Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer – who has supported assisted suicide – has promised MPs a “free vote” on the issue, meaning they could choose to vote with their conscience rather than along party lines.
The “Choice at the End of Life Bill” was introduced to Parliament on October 16.
“Compassion has to be at the heart of this conversation and I hope that, for the small part that I will play in this piece of work, I can try and facilitate a robust but also respectful and compassionate debate, which gives you guys some comfort and hope that there is light at the end of the tunnel,” Leadbeater told reporters.
“Things need to change. The law as it stands is not fit for purpose,” she said.
Debate
In his message, Cardinal Nichols acknowledged the debate on legalising assisted suicide will continue for months, both in society and in Parliament, before a definitive vote is taken.
The cardinal warns supporters of the issue need to “be careful what you wish for”.
That the circumstances in which the taking of a life is permitted are widened and widened, making assisted suicide and medical killing, or euthanasia, more and more available and accepted”
“No doubt the bill put before Parliament will be carefully framed, providing clear and very limited circumstances in which it would become lawful to assist, directly and deliberately, in the ending of a person’s life,” he says.
“But please remember, the evidence from every single country in which such a law has been passed is clear: That the circumstances in which the taking of a life is permitted are widened and widened, making assisted suicide and medical killing, or euthanasia, more and more available and accepted.”
Legal
Some form of assisted suicide is legal in Austria, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, parts of the United States and all six states of Australia.
Gordon Macdonald, CEO for Care Not Killing, last month noted the expansion of the use of assisted dying in the countries where it has been legalised.
“At a time when we see how quickly the safeguards in countries like Canada, Belgium and the Netherlands have been eroded so disabled people and those with mental health problems, even eating disorders are now being euthanised, I would strongly urge the Government to focus on fixing our broken palliative care system that sees up to one in four Brits who would benefit from this type of care being unable to access it, rather than discussing again this dangerous and ideological policy. With suicides in the UK being at record levels financial worries and the NHS in crisis, now is not the time to encourage or facilitate more suicides by legalising assisted suicide and euthanasia,” he said.
In his statement read out in the Diocese of Westminster last weekend, Cardinal Nichols admitted the proposed change in the law may be “a source of relief to some,” but added “it will bring great fear and trepidation to many, especially those who have vulnerabilities and those living with disabilities”.
“What is now proposed will not be the end of the story,” the cardinal said.
He also warned a “right to die” can become “a duty to die”.
“A law which prohibits an action is a clear deterrent. A law which permits an action changes attitudes: That which is permitted is often and easily encouraged. Once assisted suicide is approved by the law, a key protection of human life falls away,” Cardinal Nichols writes.
Pressure
“Pressure mounts on those who are nearing death, from others or even from themselves, to end their life in order to take away a perceived burden of care from their family, for the avoidance of pain, or for the sake of an inheritance,” he continues.
“I know that, for many people, there is profound fear at the prospect of prolonged suffering and loss of dignity. Yet such suffering itself can be eased. Part of this debate, then, must be the need and duty to enhance palliative care and hospice provision, so that there can genuinely be, for all of us, the prospect of living our last days in the company of loved ones and caring medical professionals. This is truly dying with dignity,” the cardinal said.
Nichols adds the “radical change in the law” being proposed risks bringing about for all medical professionals “a slow change from a duty to care to a duty to kill”.
The cardinal, of course, also turned to more religious reasons to opposed the proposed law, saying it is “being forgetful of God belittles our humanity”.
“For people of faith in God – the vast majority of the population of the world – the first truth is that life, ultimately, is a gift of the Creator. Our life flows from God and will find its fulfilment in God,” he writes.
Our life is not our own possession, to dispose of as we feel fit. This is not a freedom of choice we can take for ourselves”
He said the clearest expression of the Christian faith is “every human being is made in the image and likeness of God”.
“That is the source of our dignity and it is unique to the human person. The suffering of a human being is not meaningless. It does not destroy that dignity. It is an intrinsic part of our human journey, a journey embraced by the Eternal Word of God, Christ Jesus himself. He brings our humanity to its full glory precisely through the gateway of suffering and death,” Cardinal Nichols writes.
“We know, only too well, that suffering can bring people to a most dreadful state of mind, even driving them to take their own lives, in circumstances most often when they lack true freedom of mind and will, and so bear no culpability,” he continues.
“But this proposed legislation is quite different. It seeks to give a person of sound will and mind the right to act in a way that is clearly contrary to a fundamental truth: Our life is not our own possession, to dispose of as we feel fit. This is not a freedom of choice we can take for ourselves without undermining the foundations of trust and shared dignity on which a stable society rests,” the cardinal says.