Stop Press ‘Slippery Slope’: The Telegraph reports the Netherlands Parliament is to consider extending their own ‘assisted dying’ legislation to healthy over-75’s who just ‘choose to die’. (14th November 2024)
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The UK parliament is considering a ‘dangerous and ideological’ assisted suicide bill to give ‘terminally ill’ individuals in England and Wales the right to end their lives this month.
Labour MP Kim Leadbeater introduced her ‘Assisted Dying Bill’ on Wednesday 16th October 2024. MPs will debate it at Second Reading on Friday 29th November.
Sir Keir Starmer is behind it
Mrs Leadbeater topped the Private Members’ bills ballot. Prime Minister Keir Starmer previously pledged to Prime Minister Keir Starmer previously pledged to allow MPs a free vote on the matter. Behind the scenes, it will be he who has suggested she choose this bill.
Since entering parliament in 2019, Kim Leadbeater, sister to the murdered Jo Cox, has shown scant respect for human life. She has voted for DIY abortions, for buffer zones, and against prayer.
Mrs Leadbeater claims the ‘time is right for a renewed discussion’ on assisted dying. She flatly denies, according to Sky News, that in counties which have introduced such a law, the criteria have subsequently expanded down a ‘slippery slope’. We refute this below. She should know such a claim is false.
God determines the end of life
The push comes after a massive intake of new MPs expected to agree with her. MPs rejected similar legislation in 2015. But in any case, who are MPs to decide when to end a life God has given?
The Bible says,
Deuteronomy 32:39 See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand.
The bill will have to be approved by MPs and peers before it becomes law. Dr Gordon Macdonald, chief executive of Care Not Killing, is urging the government ‘to focus on fixing our broken palliative care system’ rather than ‘discussing again this dangerous and ideological policy’.
‘Heartless utilitarianism’
When a society loses respect for God, it loses regard for human life. Money becomes more important, either relatives chasing an early inheritance or public authorities looking to save expenditure. The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) has criticised a study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal that suggests assisted suicide could save Canada’s healthcare system up to $136.8 million annually.
The study estimated that assisted suicide may forgo costly, resource-intensive medical care, reducing costs by bypassing the expensive final months of a terminally ill patient’s life. Using data from Belgium and the Netherlands, where assisted suicide has been legal for over 20 years, the report suggested cost savings could be ‘reinvested’ into other areas of healthcare. SPUC condemned the findings as ‘heartless utilitarianism’ and rejected the notion.
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‘Pressured to opt for death’
Daniel Frampton, SPUC’s editorial officer, said: ‘This chilling report highlights the rise of a cold, utilitarian approach in Western healthcare systems, where patients are seen as a financial burden.
Governments struggling with budgets may be tempted to embrace assisted suicide as a cost-saving strategy. Patients could feel pressured to opt for death, or worse, be left without other viable choices.”
As the UK debates the legalisation of assisted suicide, Frampton urged both politicians and the public to learn from Canada’s experience and oppose this alarming shift towards viewing death as a solution to the challenges in healthcare.
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Canada’s slippery slope
Canada’s assisted dying laws, originally introduced in 2016, were designed to offer ‘a compassionate option’ for terminally ill patients experiencing unbearable suffering. The legislation initially applied to those whose death was reasonably foreseeable, but over time, the boundaries of the law have expanded. Eligibility is now being considered for individuals with chronic pain or mental health issues.
Canada’s history with assisted dying began in the 1990s, when amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patient Sue Rodriguez challenged the country’s criminal prohibition on assisted suicide. Despite her high-profile fight, the Supreme Court ruled against her in 1993, leaving the ban in place. That decision was overturned decades later in the landmark Carter v. Canada case. In 2015, the Supreme Court ruled that ‘denying assisted dying violated Canadians’ rights, forcing the government to act’.
From prohibition to legalisation
A year later, the government introduced Bill C-14, legalising medical assistance in dying (MAiD) under strict conditions. At the time, only adults with a ‘reasonably foreseeable’ death were eligible, seemingly ensuring the law would only apply to the terminally ill. However, that scope was quickly widened. In 2021, the passage of Bill C-7 removed the ‘foreseeable death’ requirement, opening MAiD to people suffering from intolerable pain or disabilities, even if they were not terminally ill. While proponents hailed the move as a victory for patient autonomy, pro-life campaigners warned it dangerously blurred the line between compassionate care and state-sanctioned death.
This criticism has only intensified with the scheduled 2024 expansion, which will allow those with mental illness as their sole medical condition to seek MAiD. Disability advocates, mental health experts, and human rights groups have raised the alarm, fearing vulnerable individuals may be coerced or driven to seek death due to inadequate support services.
The Netherlands
In April 2002 the Dutch Euthanasia Act came into force. This Act, officially named the Termination of Life on Request and Assisted Suicide (Review Procedures) Act, is the result of a development that started in 1973, when the first court case in the Netherlands regarding euthanasia was decided. The Netherlands’ assisted dying law, started as a controlled process but has now extended to include cases involving mental health disorders, dementia, and even non-medical reasons.
One of the most controversial developments is the Groningen Protocol , which allows the euthanasia of terminally ill infants under certain conditions.
Perhaps most concerning is the push to extend euthanasia to elderly individuals who feel they have ‘completed life’ but do not suffer from any terminal illness. This change reflects a societal shift toward using assisted dying as a normalised option for non-medical cases, particularly for vulnerable groups who may feel pressured to choose death.
The experience of Oregon
The Assisted Suicide (Scotland) Bill draws from Oregon’s ‘Death with Dignity Act’ (DWDA). The Act was introduced in 1997 to allow terminally ill patients with less than six months to have the option of assisted suicide. While it began with strict safeguards, over time,vulnerable people, including those with mental health challenges or disabilities, were encouraged to consider ending their lives prematurely. Oregon’s experience shows a steady rise in ‘assisted deaths’, with a 556% increase since the law’s inception, signalling a normalisation over time. Furthermore, Oregon has faced troubling cases where terminal patients were denied life-saving treatments but offered assisted suicide, raising ethical concerns about healthcare priorities.
Oregon’s original safeguards have been stretched, with some patients living years after being diagnosed, questioning the accuracy of medical predictions. The criteria for terminal illness have also been expanded, with non-terminal conditions now qualifying for assisted death. The UK can bring in a measure with no end of ‘safeguards’ but the boundaries of the law will in short time extend, leading to misuse.
MPs need wisdom from on high
MPs, even the godless, need wisdom, which only comes from on high. We must pray for them and witness to them. The experiences of other jurisdictions show how initial limits on assisted dying inevitably broaden, increasing the risk of vulnerable individuals being pressured into making life-ending decisions to benefit others. Of course there is a spiritual dimension, b ut even in the ‘natural’, the UK would be better off focussing on improving palliative care rather than opening the door to assisted suicide, which must lead to consequences which those pushing for the measure will say they never intended.
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Read and pray
READ: Exod 20:13; Lev 19:35; Deut 32:39; 2Sam 1:14-15; Psa 37:9-10; Prov 21:13; Eccl 8:8; Isa 28:9; Jer 21:14; Ezek 18:20; Matt 22:39; Rom 5:3-5; 1 Cor 3:16-17; Eph 5:29; Col 3:12; Titus 2:6-8.
PRAY: Pray for our parliamentarians. Pray for terminally-ill patients and thise caring for them. Pray the Lord to raise up God-fearing leaders in our land.
WRITE: To your MP at House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA or email him/her HERE at parliament.uk. Draw your MP’s attention to the experience of Canada, the Netherlands and Oregon, and explain how initial ‘safeguards’, even if brought in with good intentions, will always be broken. Ask your MP is he or she really wants to bring in a regime where someone can request to die because they are little more than depressed.
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Stephen,
This report needs editing. It occurs twice.