In Depth:  assisted suicide

Ben Chang

Over the last couple of weeks, proponents and opponents of assisted dying in the House of Lords have both publicly acknowledged that Kim Leadbeater’s assisted dying bill will not be passed by the end of the parliamentary session.

Since the bill was voted through by majority in the House of Commons in June last year, the Lords have been debating the thousands of amendments put forward by a small number of peers.

James Mildred

This month, the Westminster Parliament will be prorogued and a King’s Speech should take place after the local elections on 13 May. With the closure of this parliamentary session, the assisted suicide bill in the House of Lords will fall, having run out of time before it completed all its stages.

To my mind, this is an astonishing result, and a worthy reason to praise our glorious God for His grace and mercy.

Ciarán Kelly

“The LORD has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.” (Psalm 126v3)

After three years of speculation, debate and scrutiny, late Tuesday night the Scottish Parliament voted to reject the legalisation of assisted suicide by 69-57 votes. Along with The Christian Institute’s nearly 60,000 supporters, I rejoice that our gracious and merciful God has truly done a “great thing”.

James Mildred

I spent yesterday evening watching the Scottish Parliament debate assisted suicide. It was a Stage Three debate, which is the final time MSPs debate legislation and also the last time they vote.

Going into the debate, we needed at least seven MSPs to switch from their Stage One vote and we needed to ensure no-one went the other way. It was absolutely on a knife edge.

James Mildred

The assisted suicide bill at Westminster is now highly likely to fall after the government refused to give it any more parliamentary time. 

This is a wholly welcome outcome because the assisted suicide bill is deeply divisive and dangerous. At CARE, we do not think it is appropriate to grant the state the legal power to help some people kill themselves. 

James Mildred

Will the Lords kill off the dangerous, toxic, and unnecessary assisted suicide bill? The truth is that they just might.

I must admit, when MPs voted at Third Reading to approve the legislation, I feared the worst. The Bill was guaranteed maximum time in the remainder of the parliamentary session. The government even added ten additional committee days to help facilitate scrutiny.

Ciarán Kelly

Today is World Suicide Prevention Day — a global reminder that every life matters, and that those in despair deserve to be given hope, help and care.

And yet, in just two days' time, Kim Leadbeater’s assisted suicide bill will have its second reading in the House of Lords. This Private Members’ bill would legalise assisted suicide in England and Wales. What message does this send to suicidal people? One day we say, “Don’t give up,” and the next we consider legislation to allow the NHS to give people drugs to help them end their lives.

Kirsten Birkett

The founder of the International Association for the Philosophy of Death and Dying has recently written on what he calls a new and different approach in the case for assisted dying. ^[1]

He says: “I believe that a type of freedom we can call freedom over death – that is, a freedom in which we shape the timing and circumstances of how we die – should be central to this conversation.”

Ben Chang

On Friday, MPs backed the legalisation of assisted dying in England and Wales. Although the House of Lords may tweak and amend the legislation, it looks all but certain that assisted dying will become legal in some form in the UK.

Evangelicals have been members of a broad coalition of groups that have spent the last few months tirelessly fighting for this bill to be defeated. And many of us have prayed without ceasing that this day would never come.

Graham Nicholls

It is deeply disappointing that MP’s have today voted in favour of the bill to legalise assisted suicide.

This is another sad day for our country following closely the vote earlier in the week to decriminalise abortion for women up to the moment of birth. It is sign of the growing disregard for Christian ethics and a reformed pseudo-morality built around the idols of autonomy and utility and crowdsourced values.

James Mildred

Just moments ago, MPs voted 314 to 291 in favour of the assisted suicide bill. Lives will be needlessly lost as a result.

Despite the many flaws with the legislation, intense criticism of the process and the fervent prayers of God’s people, state-sanctioned suicide will become a reality from 2029 onwards.

Lucy Honeysett

It’s hard to put into words the disappointment and concern we feel as we hear the outcome of the vote on the assisted dying bill in Westminster today.

This dangerous legislation will totally change the landscape of healthcare and put vulnerable people at huge risk.

James Mildred

We are drawing close to crucial debates and votes on Kim Leadbeater’s Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill.

The aim of the legislation is to give terminally ill adults over 18 in England the right to an assisted suicide if their prognosis is six months or less to live. If the Bill passes, members of the Welsh Parliament will then vote on whether to apply the same law in Wales.

James Mildred

Part of my role at Christians Action, Research and Education (CARE) involves travelling and speaking at different churches and conferences around the UK. I’m frequently asked to speak on issues around the end of human life.

This means covering both assisted suicide, but also palliative care and clearing up some misunderstandings about what happens when someone dies.

Niv Lobo

Near the start of A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens describes Scrooge as ‘a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone’. When a pair of portly philanthropists assail Scrooge on Christmas Eve, looking for a charitable donation, he says something that proves the description accurate. On being told some would rather die than go to the workhouse, Scrooge says, ‘they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population’.

It is a moment of heart-stopping heartlessness. In the peerless Muppet adaptation, Beaker and Doctor Bunsen Honeydew shake their heads in disbelief and consternation. This moment has signalled Scrooge’s unmistakeable depravity to generations of readers, staking out just how far his inhumanity goes — and therefore just how drastic his redemption will need to be.

Lucy Honeysett

How do we respond to Parliament’s decision to progress a bill to legalise assisted suicide? We don’t despair.

God has heard our prayers, He is sovereign, and we approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need (Heb. 4:16).

Graham Nicholls

Like many Christians and indeed others across the nation, I was saddened to hear the news that the UK parliament voted in favour of legalising assisted suicide.

As Christians, we are not opposed to the withdrawal of life-extending care, but we are against the active murder of anyone. Fundamentally, we believe that every life is sacred and unconditionally valuable - human dignity is not something we assign to ourselves and can then take it away when faced with illness, poverty, or disability.

Tim Farron

Today has been the busiest Friday in the House of Commons for years.

Usually MPs are in our constituencies, focusing on local issues. But today, the Commons chamber was packed. Over 160 MPs sought to express their views on a bill to introduce assisted dying for adults with a terminal illness and less than six months to live.

James Mildred

If I asked you to name one of the great cultural idols of the secular Western world, what would you say? Materialism? Ease and comfort? Or what about autonomy?

It is the belief in autonomy that has fuelled the more than 10 million abortions that have taken place since 1967 when Parliament passed the legislation. In fact, the creed of the ‘pro-choice’ movement has as its chief article of faith a statement of autonomy: 'my body, my choice.'

James Mildred

If you have ever done a driver’s awareness course (yes, this is autobiographical), there is a section where the instructor will ask you to grade yourself out of ten as a driver. Most people will select 7-9 as their self-assessment. Which is ironic given the course you are doing.

The instructor might then explain that science tells us there are three biases going on. Firstly, there is the optimism bias: we assume we will be fine and will never be involved in a serious prang or crash. Secondly, the what-about bias: we look back on times where we’ve overtaken on a bend and because it all worked out, we assume it will be fine again. Finally, there is the skill enhancement bias: we think we’re better drivers than we are.

Kay Morgan-Gurr

Have you ever had anyone come up to you and say, ‘I’d rather be dead than be like you’?

I have, numerous times! Apparently, people would rather be dead because they can’t see why anyone could want to be alive if they use a wheelchair. And it’s not just physical disability - there are many people who have the same view of autism.