SPUC is urging supporters to respond to a parliamentary inquiry on assisted suicide as pro-assisted suicide campaigners gear up with fresh attempts to legalise the practice.

There are currently consultations on legalising state-sponsored death on Jersey and the Isle of Man. There is also a serious threat in Scotland, where Liam McArthur’s Assisted Dying Bill will be debated in the coming months. International euthanasia activists are using these devolved administrations as guinea pigs to push their deadly agenda across Britain.

If assisted suicide is legalised in any part of the UK, it will have massive repercussions for the whole country.

Consultation launched

In addition to these threats, the Health and Social Care Select Committee in Westminster has launched an inquiry on assisted suicide.

The Select Committee, a cross-party body of MPs which exists to scrutinise Government health policy, issued a call for evidence in December. The Select Committee will prepare a report and recommendations for Government based on responses received in this inquiry.

It is vital that as many people as possible respond to this inquiry.

While a Select Committee inquiry cannot change the law, advocates of assisted suicide will be using this consultation to push for legislation. Pro-lifers must send a strong message to MPs that assisted suicide is a dangerous and unethical practice that must never be legalised in any part of the UK.

You can submit evidence until Friday 20 January 2023. Please complete the questionnaire as soon as you can and encourage others to do the same.

What guidance is there?

To help you with this, SPUC has prepared a guide to responding to this inquiry and a new general briefing on the subject: The Case Against Assisted Suicide: Questions People Ask.

SPUC’s Public Policy Manager, Alithea Williams said: “In every place where assisted suicide and euthanasia have been legalised, we see those who are vulnerable, elderly or the disabled being put under pressure to end their lives. Safeguards are continuously eroded and the criteria is constantly expanded to include more people. It is vital that assisted suicide is not legalised in the United Kingdom.

“The inquiry consists of a straightforward, six question survey – it can be done in ten or fifteen minutes. Please take the time to complete it and help us fight to protect the vulnerable against the horror of assisted suicide.”