Top Scots bishop slams Assisted Dying law as 'state suicide service' after MSPs vote for law change
John Keenan, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Paisley, expressed his 'sadness' that MSPs backed an historic law change on people's right to choose the timing of their death.
A leading Scots bishop has claimed the legalisation of Assisted Dying would create a "state suicide service".
John Keenan, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Paisley, expressed his 'sadness' after MSPs backed the general principles of the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill following a four-hour debate yesterday.
The legislation has now cleared its first hurdle at Holyrood but faces a further vote later in the year before it can become law.
The Bill, proposed by Lib Dem MSP Liam McArthur, would allow adult Scots diagnosed with a terminal illness to request help to end their life from a doctor.
Similar legislation is already in place across several European countries and in many American states.
Bishop Keenan equated assisted dying to suicide - claiming the law would normalise the idea of someone taking their own life, as he urged politicians to focus on caring for people to live.
McArthur said equating assisted dying and suicide was 'regrettable'.
'It is hard to believe that any parliamentarian could support what will effectively be the creation of a state suicide service,' the Bishop said.
'Politicians should be working hard to provide the support necessary for people to live, not give them a lethal concoction of drugs to die.
'At a time when suicide is on the rise in Scotland and we are doing our best to reduce it, what message are we sending when we say that suicide is the right choice provided it is overseen by a doctor?
'Laws like this normalise suicide and, with it, the false idea that some people's lives are beyond hope.
'This dangerous legislation devalues human life and puts our most vulnerable brothers and sisters under terrible pressure to take their lives prematurely.
'When vulnerable people, including the elderly and disabled, express concerns about being a burden, the appropriate response is not to suggest that they have a duty to die.
'Rather, it is to commit ourselves to meeting their needs and providing the care and compassion they need to help them live.
'I urge every MSP to consider the great dangers inherent in assisted suicide legislation and to focus their energies on ensuring we provide better palliative care, giving everyone access to modern pain relief and the highest quality of care.'
McArthur, who is the third MSP in Holyrood's history to table a Bill on assisted dying, said he understood there would always be opposition to the legislation.
'This is about putting in place more choice, it's not about any obligation,' he told BBC Radio Scotland.
'Indeed, for medical practitioners, I think there needs to be a robust conscientious objection to ensure that their choices are respected.'
He added: 'But I think referring to suicide is regrettable.
'I know a number of mental health charities, for example in Australia, have reflected that the mindset of an individual considering suicide could not be more different than the mindset of somebody faced with a terminal diagnosis, who's desperate to live, desperate to get the most out of the life that they have left.'
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