This week
the summer recess ends and MPs return to Parliament for what I am sure if going
to be an interesting, and in many ways, challenging week.
With the
refugee crisis dominating the media I am sure this is going to be a major topic
for debate. I have been quite clear that we as a country should play our part
and I am pleased the government has confirmed that we will be accepting genuine
refuges from the camps in the Middle East. I will be watching and listening
very carefully, both to the debate in Parliament as well as the many local
people who are contacting me about this issue.
On Friday
we will have the first Private Members Bill of this Parliament. This is when an
individual MP has the opportunity to present a bill to the house on any issue of
their choosing. The members are chosen by a ballot. The Bill being presented
this Friday is seeking to legalise assisted suicide. This issue, probably more
than any other that this Parliament is likely to consider, is a matter of
conscience.
I have a great
deal of sympathy for people on both sides of this issue. I have considered my
own views very carefully before reaching a conclusion. My personal belief is
that I could not support any legislation that would legalise assisted dying. I
intend to attend the debate and I will be voting against the bill. There are
many factors that bring me to this view.
Coping with
terminal illness is distressing and difficult both for the patient and their
families. These cases are truly moving and evoke the highest degree of
compassion and emotion.
If, as a
society, we made assisted suicide legal, we would in my view, be fundamentally
changing the very foundation of our civil society. As a compassionate society,
our response to suicidal feelings must never be a lethal injection.
No major
disability group favours a change in the law. This Bill legitimises the idea
that suicide is a solution for disability and sickness. Where assisted suicide
is legal around the world, the data shows that those who choose suicide are
almost invariably disabled. They need assistance to live, not assistance to
die.
None of the
Royal Medical Colleges support a change in the law. In fact, the British
Medical Association, the Royal College of GPs and the Royal College of
Physicians, actively oppose such a change for that very reason. Legalising
assisting dying would fundamentally change the nature of the doctor/patient
relationship. A doctor is not a detective and cannot reasonably be expected to
investigate all of the relevant social factors involved in such a grave
decision.
I am also
concerned that, as has been the case in other countries, legalising assisted
suicide would lead to demands for legalisation of other forms of euthanasia –
for example in Belgium, where in 2002, a euthanasia law was passed for adults,
in 2014 – a law was passed enabling children to be euthanized.
My view is
that if we were to legalise assisted dying we would be crossing a line that
would lead to the devaluing of life. This is not something I am prepared to
support.
