Oppose Assisted Suicide

Dear defenders of life,

As you will know from the media, the Leadbeater Bill to legalise assisted suicide had its first reading in Parliament on Wednesday 16^th. Not surprisingly the talk at the cathedral the evening before on this very subject felt topical, even urgent. The hall was packed to hear Professor David A Jones – director of the Anscombe Centre for Bioethics – describe how the Leadbeater bill would pose a threat to the lives of many vulnerable people, should it be passed into law. You can read a detailed account of Professor Jones’s talk by going to https://www.spuc.org.uk/Article/385760/Assisted-Suicide-A-threat-to-the-vulnerable

In spite of a very busy schedule, Bishop Patrick was in the audience listening to Professor Jones’s talk, reflecting his concern about this new and significant threat to the sanctity of life.  He has now written a pastoral letter which will be read at all masses across the diocese this coming weekend. In his letter he outlines some of the many compelling reasons why we should do everything we can to oppose this dangerous proposal and stop it from becoming law.

The question is, how? Since we live in a democracy, the answer is simple. We must contact our representatives in parliament, our MPs, and ask them to oppose the Leadbeater bill. There are two ways to do this:

• Ask your MP for a face to face meeting, as soon as possible. You could attend this meeting with a fellow constituent.
• Write a letter to your MP, either in the old fashioned way (on paper and posted) or by email.

Do MPs take notice of letters from a constituents? The answer is yes. SPUC has spent many years campaigning in parliament, and has considerable experience to draw on. SPUC’s advice is that if one person writes to his or her MP expressing a view (such as opposition to assisted suicide), it may be dismissed as a cranky or minority opinion.  But if ten, fifteen or twenty people write, then the MP will certainly take notice - especially if the letters make a case based on reasoning and evidence. We know this because MPs have said so.

An alternative method for contacting MPs is to sign an online petition, or send an email which contains a pre-prepared standard letter written by someone else. In both cases, the methods have become so overused that MPs have told SPUC that they ignore them completely.  

So, if you can’t arrange to meet your MP in person, writing a personal letter or email is the best. If you would like help with this, you can find useful advice at https://www.spuc.org.uk/assistedsuicideuk.

In addition, SPUC is offering two ‘webinars’ (online workshops) specifically designed to help people write letters to MPs on this issue. The first is on TUESDAY 29^TH OCTOBER at 7pm. The second is the following day, WEDNESDAY 30^TH OCTOBER, also at 7pm. To book a place and receive a link to one of these webinars, go to the same page https://www.spuc.org.uk/assistedsuicideuk and you will find the link to booking.

SPUC has also produced superb materials for this campaign (leaflets, booklets with experiences and research evidence) which can be ordered free of charge through the SPUC website (spuc.org.uk). The quality of these materials is such that they would be of interest to your MP if you manage to get a face to face meeting.

In 1967, an act of parliament was passed to legalise abortion. When the bill was being debated in Parliament, the MP who put the bill forward, David Steel, said that it would be used only rarely and in exceptional cases. Over 50 years and 10 million lives later, we can see that legalising this barbaric practice was a mistake, and that we should have fought much harder at the time to prevent it.

In some ways, this moment is comparable. If the Pandora’s box of legalised killing is opened, it is highly unlikely to remain restricted to those who have just a few months to live, as is being promised. The evidence on this from other countries (Canada, Australia, Netherlands, Belgium) is clear. Let’s do everything we can to prevent this bill becoming a law which once again undermines, assaults and diminishes the value of human life.