At least 30 MPs who voted for Kim Leadbeater’s assisted suicide bill are prepared to withdraw their support for the proposed law because they are concerned about coercion and the role of doctors in suggesting assisted suicide to patients.
After a “disappointing” first vote in favour of the Leadbeater Bill, a committee is set to examine the draft law in the new year.
While MPs voted by 330 to 275 for the Bill, on 29 November, MPs on the committee plan to submit amendments, including not allowing medics to suggest assisted suicide to patients.
Labour MP Josh Fenton-Glynn, who abstained from the first vote, said he had fears about safeguarding and coercion, and he intends to submit an amendment to the Bill.
While Fenton-Glynn is in favour of assisted suicide in principle, he said: “Our [Parliament’s] job is to scrutinise legislation, not to just say we think it’s a good idea in principle.”
“I’ve seen how family coercion works around care budgets”, he continued. “I have seen dreadful things. Any adult social worker will tell you that they’ve seen dreadful coercion from people who probably do love the person involved, but they end up coercing because it’s the thing that made their life easier at that point…
“I think we have to listen to disabled people who are afraid and to people with concerns about coercion.”
Chris Webb, the Labour MP for Blackpool South, also has concerns. “I’m uncomfortable that it allows doctors to suggest to patients they could take their own lives and believe this needs to be removed from the bill”, he said, after voting in favour of the Bill.
Lib Dem MP Roz Savage, who supports the Bill, voiced similar unease, stating: “I’m especially concerned that healthcare professionals must not proactively suggest assisted dying as an option – it should be left to the individual to make that suggestion.”
The Leadbeater Bill, which SPUC opposes, will now be scrutinized at the committee stage, which will be concluded by April when there will be a second vote on the proposed law and any amendments.
Leadbeater Bill “based on counterfeit compassion and false choice”
Daniel Frampton, SPUC Editorial Officer, said: “It’s not too late to reject this ill-judged bill that, whatever form it takes, poses a mortal threat to vulnerable people.
“Coercion comes in many guises, and it is all too present in nations that have unwisely passed such laws. Assisted suicide, which is no choice at all, soon becomes a pressure to ‘choose’ death, which might even come from doctors.
“While allowing medics to ‘suggest’ assisted suicide is wrong, it is just one of many dangers inherent in the Leadbeater Bill. It’s not only the detail that should make MPs fear for their constituents’ lives – it’s the entire ethic of assisted suicide that is antithetical to medicine and care.
“Rather than giving in to so-called progressivism – which, in the form of assisted suicide, is based on counterfeit compassion and false choice – MPs must read the room, recognise the danger, and act decisively to protect all citizens from harm.”
