Assisted dying Bill ‘devalues human life', says top Bishop
The assisted dying legislation which passed its first parliamentary hurdle at Holyrood on Tuesday 'devalues human life', a leading Catholic Bishop has said.
John Keenan, the Bishop of Paisley and the President of the Bishops' Conference of Scotland, expressed his 'sadness' that MSPs backed the general principles of the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill.
Proposed by Lib Dem MSP Liam McArthur, the Bill will go forward for further scrutiny in the Scottish Parliament.
But 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.
Mr 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.'
Mr 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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