A consultation on another proposed Assisted Suicide Bill in Scotland was launched today. The Member’s Bill, which SPUC slams as “dangerous” and “irresponsible”, aspires “to create a new standard for how we die”, according to its sponsor, Liam McArthur MSP.

SPUC is now set to mobilise its supporters and provide them with assistance in response to the consultation over the next three months.

As SPUC had anticipated, a consultation has been launched in Scotland that is seeking to redefine “how we die”, according to Mr. McArthur.

The Bill “to enable competent adults who are terminally ill to be provided at their request with assistance to end their life” will be subject to a consultation from 23 September to 22 December 2021, the first step towards introducing a Member’s Bill in the Scottish Parliament.

Michael Robinson, SPUC Executive Director (Public Affairs), said: “We will shortly be providing materials, including a full briefing, to equip SPUC supporters in responding to this consultation with full force.

“It is vital that Scotland is fully informed about the very real dangers of assisted suicide, which is neither ‘compassionate’, nor ‘progressive’, despite the claims of Mr. McArthur.”

Exploiting the vulnerable

This is the third time that assisted suicide legislation has been attempted in Scotland, which last rejected such a bill in 2015 by 82 votes to 36.

If passed, the current Bill will allow patients to commit suicide “by means of medication provided by a doctor for that purpose”.

SPUC’s Mr. Robinson said: “Assisted suicide opens the door to the exploitation of the vulnerable at the hands of a culture of death masquerading as compassion.

“Scotland has already made its thoughts on this matter quite clear, refusing to turn to death as an answer to the challenges of care.

“Wherever and whenever assisted suicide is introduced, the pattern is the same: we see the vulnerable, elderly and even the disabled placed under increasing pressure to end their own lives, as SPUC has detailed.”

Deaths from euthanasia and assisted suicide surged in Belgium, where such procedures were legalised, from just 24 in 2002 to 2,656 in 2019, according to the Institute for Medical Anthropology and Bioethics (IMABE).

This year it was also reported that the number of Canadians choosing assisted suicide rose by 17% in just one year in 2020.

Mr. Robinson continued: “As we can see, such legislation is simply unacceptable and quite frankly irresponsible, which the Scottish people, as they made clear already in 2015, evidently recognise.”

“Expect a vigorous and informed response”

As reported by SPUC, many medical professionals have already signed a letter opposing the Scottish Bill. “We the undersigned will not take patients’ lives”, the letter said. “As health care professionals, we have a legal duty of care for the safety and wellbeing of our patients.”

Speaking for SPUC, Mr. Robinson said: “Our supporters can expect a vigorous and informed response from SPUC over the next weeks and months to this ongoing attempt to undermine the rights and security of the vulnerable.

“A steady stream of media stories, opinion and other SPUC coverage will take the fight to the Assisted Suicide lobby.

“We will resist this dangerous and irresponsible Bill together. We will promote true compassion in our society. We will protect the vulnerable.”