A Bill that would legalize assisted suicide has been rejected by the parliament in Scotland, a vote which Scottish bishops say “serves to protect some of Scotland’s most vulnerable.”
Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) made their final vote on the measure on Tuesday – 69 against to 57 for – while the UK Parliament continues its debates on the measure, which would only affect England and Wales.
It had been a free vote, meaning Members could decide according to their consciences, rather than along party lines.
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“Every human life possesses inherent value,” the Bishops Conference of Scotland said in a statement. “Genuine compassion is not expressed through ending a life,” they said, “but through accompanying those who suffer and ensuring they receive the medical, emotional, and spiritual support that recognizes their dignity.
“No life is without worth,” the bishops said.
“As a society, our responsibility is not to address suffering by eliminating the sufferer, but to surround each person with care, respect, and dignity until their natural end,” said the statement, which was signed by Bishop John Keenan of Paisley, the president of the bishops’ conference.
“[Tuesday’s] decision moves Scotland further in that direction, and MSPs should be commended for this,” the statement said.
Keenan said Scotland “must continue to make progress” in helping those with terminal illnesses and called on the government to strengthen palliative care by ensuring that it is properly funded and accessible to all who require it.
Keenan expressed his “gratitude gratitude to all [members of the Scottish Parliament] for their serious engagement with this issue and for the thoughtful and considered attention they have given to the bill,” and thanked especially “those who upheld the principle of human dignity and advocated on behalf of the vulnerable.”
“Your principled commitment has not gone unnoticed,” Keenan wrote.
The Deputy First Minister of the Scottish Parliament is Kate Forbes of the governing Scottish National Party. She said she would vote against the bill.
She noted some medical organizations, including the Royal College of Psychiatrists and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, are also opposed.
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“Doctors, psychiatrists, pharmacists and palliative care specialists — the people who would be tasked with implementing this — are asking us not to do it,” Forbes said. “They think this bill is unsafe.”
Before the vote, Pam Duncan-Glancy MSP said “disabled people don’t have real choices in life,” adding that it was “inconceivable to suggest the introduction of assisted dying is about choice.” Duncan-Glancy is the first permanent wheelchair-user to be elected to the Scottish Parliament.
MSP Jeremy Balfour – who was born with no left arm and a right arm that ends at the elbow – told the BBC disabled people were “terrified” of assisted dying legislation, warning the Bill would open “a pandora’s box” and said there could be “no meaningful protection” against coercion.
A similar Bill was passed by the House of Commons in London but has been bogged down in the House of Lords, and many observers say it may not pass before a deadline in May.
