SPUC expresses concern over assisted suicide court case

Westminster, 30 November, 2004 - The Society for the Protection of
Unborn Children have expressed concern over a court case involving a
chronically ill woman in local authority care who has asked for help
to travel abroad for an assisted suicide. The Voluntary Euthanasia
Society has welcomed the case, claiming that the law needs
'clarifying.'

Paul Tully, SPUC's General Secretary, said: "This is yet another
example of the pro-euthanasia lobby taking advantage of a vulnerable
person's suffering to advance its cause, rather than offering the
compassionate help this woman clearly needs. If a healthy person asks
for assistance to commit suicide, it is understood that there is a
problem and that the person concerned needs help to address the
problem - not help to kill themselves. Doctors and paramedics will do
everything in their power to save the life of an attempted suicide,
the law permits a bystander to restrain a person who is about to
commit suicide. Yet when a disabled person asks for help to commit
suicide, some people regard it as a good thing.

"The law on assisted suicide is not in need of clarification. Aiding
and abetting a suicide is a crime, whether it involves preparing the
lethal drug cocktail or helping a person to travel to a location where
the suicide can be carried out. The council must ensure that those in
their care receive the help and support they need to enjoy and value,
not end, their lives.

"The VES clearly wants to see this woman helped to kill herself. It is
not clear whether this case has been brought by the local authority in
order to avoid assisting this woman's suicide, or by the woman
herself, prompted by the VES or others."


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