LEICESTER, United Kingdom – Another British archbishop has spoken out against a proposed bill which would legalize assisted suicide, saying it would “open the flood gates and put huge pressure on the most vulnerable.”
Archbishop Mark O’Toole of Cardiff-Menevia in Wales issued his statement on Wednesday, when Member of Parliament Kim Leadbeater introduced a bill to legalize assisted suicide for the terminally ill in England and Wales.
“The new bill marks a very serious moment for our country. It raises serious questions about what sort of society we want to be,” he said.
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O’Toole said specially of concern was whether “we will continue to promote a proper care of the dying, and of those who are vulnerable through disability or age.”
“We must treasure and value these individuals among us. Our countries have such a rich tradition of care for the dying. We should invest more in such care,” he said.
Saying all human life is sacred, the archbishop said his message was not just for people of faith, but for all people of goodwill, “because the proposals for physician-assisted suicide are not just contrary to the dignity and sanctity of life, they pose grave dangers to vulnerable people.”
“If the bill were to become law, the experience of countries such as Canada, Belgium, Netherlands and some parts of the USA, shows that the most vulnerable very quickly feel at risk,” he said.
“In Oregon, often suggested as a model by proponents of assisted suicide in the UK, over 47 percent of those who accept it cited being a burden on family, friends and caregivers as a reason,” O’Toole said.
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He also noted Belgium has extended an initial permission which was only for adults to allow voluntary euthanasia of children.
“It has seen some extraordinary individual cases – euthanasia for anorexia nervosa, euthanasia for someone who regretted gender reassignment, euthanasia of twin brothers who feared losing their sight,” the archbishop said.
“Supporters of the bill will say that these cases are not possible under the proposed law in our country. Yet the history of such legislation shows that once permission is given for one set of circumstances it will soon be extended. We should not only be concerned about this ‘slippery slope’ in the proposed law. Nor should supporters of the bill try to see our opposition as a merely religious matter. The deeper question is the inherent dignity of every person, especially in relation to those who are disabled, elderly or vulnerable. If, as a society, we facilitate suicide for certain categories of people – in this case those who are terminally ill – and seek to prevent suicide of others – the healthy and the young – then what we are ultimately saying is that some lives are less worthy than others,” O’Toole continued.
He said those who argue for a change in the law say it is about dying, not about other vulnerable people, but noted in framing their arguments, “they appeal not to the reality of someone’s approaching death.”
“They speak rather about the alleged indignity of being dependent on another, or of reduced mental capacity, or the fear of being a burden on family and friends. But to say, as a society, that these are intolerable would ultimately be to condemn every disabled, elderly and vulnerable person,” the archbishop explained.
“It would open the flood gates and put huge pressure on the most vulnerable. There would be a sense that there was a duty to die. Many would feel insecure about the future and conclude that they are a burden on loved ones and the health service,” he said.
Meanwhile, the head of the Anglican Church of England told the BBC legalizing assisted suicide “opens the way to it broadening out, such that people who are not in that situation [terminally ill] asking for this or feeling pressured to ask for it.”
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby told the British news television service he had seen a marked degradation in his lifetime of the idea that “everyone, however useful they are, is of equal worth to society.”
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In his statement, the Welsh Catholic archbishop said the proposed law “marks a very serious moment for our country.”
“It raises serious questions about what sort of society we want to be. Especially of concern is whether we will continue to promote a proper care of the dying, and of those who are vulnerable through disability or age. We must treasure and value these individuals among us,” O’Toole said.
Follow Charles Collins on X: @CharlesinRome
