Church leaders urge MSPs not to ‘abandon vulnerable to an early death’

Senior church leaders have warned MSPs that legalising assisted suicide in Scotland “risks normalising the idea that some lives are no longer worth living”.

In an open letter, senior leaders across denominations and organisations, including the Free Church of Scotland, the Salvation Army and the FIEC urged politicians to reject Liam McArthur’s Bill in the upcoming Stage 3 vote on 17 March.

The Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill, which would allow those deemed to be terminally ill who have been resident in Scotland for at least twelve months to get help from a medic to kill themselves, passed Stage 1 by 70 votes to 56. Several MSPs have withdrawn their support due to safeguarding concerns, and only five more need to follow suit for the Bill to fall at the next stage.

Human dignity

The leaders stated: “While we understand the deeply felt desire to relieve suffering, permitting doctors to assist in ending life undermines human dignity.

“However carefully framed, such legislation risks normalising the idea that some lives are no longer worth living. It would expose the most vulnerable — the elderly, the disabled, and those who feel themselves to be a burden — to subtle pressures and coercion that no safeguard can fully prevent.”

The letter urged parliamentarians “to stand for the equal worth and dignity of every human life, and to vote against this legislation at Stage 3”.

“A truly compassionate society accompanies those who suffer; it does not abandon them to an early death.”

Vulnerable and isolated

Ruth Maguire MSP recently shared how battling with cancer has shaped her thinking on assisted suicide.

In an interview with The Herald, the MSP for Cunninghame South reflected how she saw first-hand the difference between cancer treatment for those with less income and family support than she had.

In the MSP’s first round of treatment, she got to know an older woman who lacked family support: “She had to get three buses to get to the Beatson to have her treatment. And I’ve always remembered her, and I think that you can, looking at that situation, see where inequality can play into choice.”

Maguire raised concern that it is the most vulnerable and isolated people who are “going to be disproportionately” opting for assisted suicide if it is legalised.