Left image – Wikimedia Commons: Official portrait of Kim Leadbeater MP crop 2, 2024
The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) CEO John Deighan has described the vote by MPs to give Kim Leadbeater MP’s Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill a Third Reading as “incredibly disappointing” and an “abdication” of MPs responsibilities, but vows to fight on in the next stage of the process. MPs voted by 314 to 291 to pass the legislation to the House of Lords, by a reduced majority of 23.
Speaking after the vote, he said: “It is incredibly disappointing that, despite the growing evidence of problems with this Bill, MPs have voted to progress it. They have abdicated their responsibility to scrutinise legislation effectively and make sure the most vulnerable are protected.”
Mr Deighan added;
“Any move to legalise assisted suicide opens the door to coercion, abuse, and the wholesale devaluation of life itself – risks that have been well documented in countries where assisted suicide is already legal.”
“This Bill is already unsafe, the much-vaunted High Court safeguard was dropped in favour of a panel that doesn’t even have to talk to the patient or a concerned family who want to challenge an assisted death. MPs have even failed to close a loophole that could lead to people with eating disorders being offered a state-sponsored death.”
Mr Deighan concluded: “These flaws are why the majority voting in favour is much smaller than in November. It is clear that this Bill faces an uphill battle, and we will fight it every stage of the process. We call on the House of Lords to pick up the ball which the Commons have dropped and subject the Bill to the real scrutiny such a serious issue deserves and reject it. ”
For more information contact Peter Kearney on 07968 122291.
