In a letter dated 14/5/2019, this organisation stated: “The issue of assisted dying is very complex. Individual people’s views on assisted suicide are often strongly linked to their ethical, moral and personal beliefs and their own experiences and feelings. For Samaritans, our more important consideration is that we offer non-judgemental and confidential emotional support to anyone in distress. Should someone ask about assisted dying on our helpline, our volunteers are trained to give that person the space and opportunity to discuss their thoughts and feelings without fear of repercussions. To answer your question directly, we are not currently funding any campaigns to promote assisted dying nor do we have any links to organisations that do.
“To answer your question on whether or not we support or refer women to organisations that provide sexual health services, again I would say that our support is there for anyone, regardless of their circumstances. Our volunteers are able to signpost callers to other organisations if we feel they would be more beneficial or appropriate than our helpline, however we would not be able to refer anyone directly to an organisation that provides reproductive health services. Firstly, as our helpline is confidential, we would not know where in the country the caller is phoning from. Secondly, one of our key values is for people to make their own decisions, so our volunteers would always aim to give the caller the time and space to talk about what they want to do and how they are feeling. We believe that people have the right to find their own solution and that telling people what to do takes responsibility away from them.”