MP to Propose Legislation on Assisted Suicide

October 4, 2024 TruthUSA

Pro-life campaigners have expressed concerns about vulnerable individuals being pressured to prematurely end their lives and have urged for enhancements in palliative care.

Labour MP Kim Leadbeater is set to present a bill on assisted suicide to the House of Commons on Oct. 16, while a similar bill in the Lords is scheduled for debate next month.

Details about Leadbeater’s Private Members’ bill, applicable to England and Wales, have not been disclosed but are expected to be similar to Lord Charles Falconer’s Private Members’ bill in the House of Lords. This bill allows terminally ill adults with less than six months to live to receive medical assistance to end their lives.

The MP for Spen Valley remarked, “Parliament should now consider a change in the law that would provide reassurance, relief, dignity, and choice to individuals in their last months of life.”

Leadbeater, the sister of the murdered MP Jo Cox, secured the top spot in the private members ballot, granting her priority on a Friday sitting. The first reading is scheduled for Oct. 16, with a vote anticipated in December.

This will mark the first debate on the issue in the House of Commons since 2015 when an assisted suicide bill was defeated.

Falconer stated he is eager to collaborate with Kim and colleagues in both Houses to ensure the passage of a safe and compassionate assisted dying law.

‘Disaster in Waiting’

Dr. Gordon Macdonald, chief executive of Care Not Killing, expressed disappointment at the bill’s introduction.

Macdonald advised, “I strongly urge the Government to concentrate on repairing our fragmented palliative care system, which leaves up to one in four Brits unable to access this type of care, rather than revisiting this dangerous and ideological policy.”

Right to Life UK described the proposed legislation as a “disaster in waiting.”

The group’s spokeswoman Catherine Robinson warned that legalizing assisted suicide “poses a significant threat to vulnerable individuals, especially within a struggling healthcare system,” as certain individuals could be easily coerced.

Robinson stated, “With an NHS labeled as ‘broken’ by the sitting Health Secretary, and 100,000 individuals in need of palliative care passing away each year without receiving it, this assisted suicide legislation is a disaster waiting to happen.”

“Every suicide is a tragedy, and this remains true for those suffering at the end of their lives,” she added.

Robinson emphasized that passing the bill “would reflect poorly on our healthcare system and society as a whole.”

‘Safeguards and Protections’

Private Members’ bills are public bills introduced by MPs and Lords who are not government ministers. Although only a fraction of Private Members’ bills become law, prominent campaigners like Dame Esther Rantzen, who has been battling stage four lung cancer since May 2023, are advocating for the issue.

In addition to the similar Private Members’ bill in the House of Lords, other proposed assisted suicide legislation is under debate at various stages in the Scottish Parliament and in the assemblies of the British Crown Dependencies of Jersey and the Isle of Man.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer had previously stated his personal support for changing the law to permit assisted suicide, after assuring Rantzen of a free vote on the matter if he became prime minister.

Speaking on Friday, Starmer confirmed, “I’m very pleased that I’m able to fulfill the promise I made to Esther Rantzen.”

“The Government will maintain neutrality on this, as you know, but I did make that commitment for a free vote, and I am sticking to it,” he continued.

Undated handout photo of Kim Leadbeater, Labour MP for Spen Valley. (PA Media) — Undated handout photo of Kim Leadbeater, Labour MP for Spen Valley. PA Media

Leadbeater assured that the bill would have “the right safeguards and protections.” However, campaigners like Kevin Yuill, the CEO of Humanists Against Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia, have cautioned that safeguards implemented for similar laws in other countries like Canada and The Netherlands have not been upheld, resulting in widening access to state-assisted suicide for individuals with non-terminal conditions and mental suffering.

“We will head down that path if we legalize assisted suicide in this country. There is no doubt,” Yuill told NTD’s “British Thought Leaders” in May.

PA Media contributed to this report.

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