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SPUC campaigns against euthanasia bill
London, 8 March 2004--The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) has warned that mistakes made before the legalisation of abortion could be repeated over euthanasia. It is launching one of its biggest ever campaigns against the draft Mental Incapacity Bill, including a parliamentary lobby next month. John Smeaton, SPUC's national director, said: "In 1966 and 1967
leading figures argued that parliament would never legalise abortion
and that, in particular, the Catholic church should not speak out too
loudly for fear of linking opposition to abortion too closely with
Catholicism. As a consequence, the voice of at least two million
pro-life citizens was muted and, since abortion was legalised, over six
million children have been killed in the womb.
"Some people are now saying that parliament will never
legalise euthanasia. They say parliamentarians will amend the draft
Mental Incapacity Bill when they are told that it will legalise
euthanasia by neglect of reasonable care, including the starvation and
dehydration of mentally incapacitated patients. It is said that the
euthanasia sections of the Bill can be defeated and the good things in
the Bill will be left intact. In the light of nearly 40 years' pro-life
political experience, SPUC considers that such arguments are wrong for
three reasons.
"Firstly, it is wrong to argue that the euthanasia elements in
this Bill can be removed leaving just the good parts. The key
mechanisms authorised by the Bill and the fundamental principles it
enshrines - autonomy, best interests, advance directives, powers of
attorney - have been designed to allow euthanasia by neglect and, in
some cases, to require it. This is the essential purpose of the Bill,
as the commentary by Dr John Fleming, published by SPUC, makes clear.
"Secondly, the government and the committee of peers and MPs
which considered the Bill simply deny that the Bill authorises
euthanasia by neglect and, once the Bill is introduced to parliament,
this false message will be ruthlessly promoted with all the authority
and resources which belong to government. Many pro-lifers will remember
the debate in parliament in 1990 when MPs voted to allow abortion up to
birth. Mr Kenneth Clarke MP, the then secretary of state for health,
misled parliament, saying that doctors would do everything they could
to save the life of the baby when carrying out a late abortion of a
viable child.
"Thirdly, the present government has a history of pushing
measures through parliament in spite of profound opposition in many
sections of society and substantial opposition in the House of Commons.
They have done this on issues such as tuition fees and foundation
hospitals.
"Future generations will find it hard to forgive us if we fail
to learn the political lessons of the past. The pro-life movement must
marshal its forces along with the Christian churches, those of other
faiths and all men and women of good will. The draft Mental Incapacity
Bill equals euthanasia by neglect. That is the message we must get to
MPs before it's too late. The government must be stopped in its tracks
and action must be taken now to ensure that this terrible Bill, which
will criminalise pro-life doctors and cause the deaths of countless
vulnerable people, is never introduced to parliament."
SPUC is preparing a leaflet which will encourage people to
lobby their MPs on these dangers. SPUC members in England and Wales
will go to the Westminster parliament on the 27th and 28th of next
month. Supporters in Scotland will lobby their MPs in their
constituencies at around the same time. There will be a briefing
booklet for constituents.
The government last month unreservedly endorsed the main thrust of the draft Mental Incapacity Bill.
