Assisted Dying Bill is to allow adults who are terminally ill, subject to safeguards and protections, to request and be provided with assistance to end their own life. The bill was introduced by Kim Leadbeater, the Labour MP for Spen Valley in the House of Commons and it passed second reading on 29 November 2024 by a wider than expected margin.
Luton’s different faith communities and all disability rights groups have been united in opposing the Bill. They say to legalise assisted suicide is against every religion’s core belief of preserving the sanctity of life, and that every person is made by God and has intrinsic value.
While some are calling it a compassionate reform so that people at the end of their lives can die with dignity at a time of their choosing, Luton’s faith leaders, before the 3rd reading of the Bill, wrote a letter to both the Luton MPs highlighting that a ‘right to die’ could ‘all too easily’ end in vulnerable people feeling they have a ‘duty to die.’ They raised concerns about the proposed safeguards saying ‘these will suffer the curse of loopholes and eventually erode’. This poses significant risks to vulnerable patient groups, many of whom already face inequities in healthcare, including limited access to quality end-of-life care.
‘Death should not be a treatment option’, the letter stated. People shouldn’t choose to end their lives, because they feel they are a burden, or they can’t get the required assistance because the NHS waiting lists are too long. Investing in good quality, consistently available palliative care and actions taken to remove the inequalities in our health care system are the best ways forward for improving quality of life and reducing suffering for people with painful terminal illnesses.
Luton faith leaders are also sceptical that their concerns can be adequately addressed within the constraints of the current process of a private member bill. They have strongly urged that an independent commission, comprising of the rich diversity of our nation, be set up to look at this subject in a less pressurised and more considered way.
Parliamentarians, and indeed all of society, now have a collective responsibility to find a way forward that seeks to prioritise life above death.