Fight continues on assisted dying, campaigners insist

‘The fight is not over,’ campaigners are insisting, as the assisted suicide bill which passed its first hurdle in Parliament now faces more detailed scrutiny.

And evangelicals are likely to be encouraged to write to the House of Commons committee examining the proposed legislation in detail once details of its membership emerge.

Widespread concerns in the run-up to the debate on the assisted suicide bill, and passionate speeches in the chamber urging fellow MPs not to support it, were not enough to halt Kim Leadbeater’s bill.

Danny Kruger MP, an evangelical Christian, withstood repeated heckling and said: ‘We are the safeguard… the people who protect the most vulnerable in society from harm, and yet we stand on the brink of abandoning that role.’

England, Wales and Northern Ireland are now a major step closer to allowing terminally ill individuals with no more than six months to live, and have mental capacity, to choose assisted suicide.

The vote on the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, was close: MPs voted 330 to 275. Ahead of the vote, Sir James Munby, former president of the Family Division of the High Court, described the bill as ‘wholly inadequate’ and warned it could lead to a ‘secret process’ lacking public oversight. He said it ‘falls lamentably short of providing adequate safeguards’ for the vulnerable’ and that judges could – under its current wording – make decisions, in secret, without input from patients or their families.

The harrowing but anecdotal accounts from MPs with first-hand experiences of witnessing the painful deaths of loved ones appeared to win over the undecided.

While the bill will continue its progress through the Commons, a groundswell of resistance by Christian campaigners (and others) has stepped up a gear.

‘The fight is not over,’ said Ciarán Kelly, director of the Christian Institute (CI), following the vote. He added that MPs ‘must now take the time to scrutinise it properly. They will find the promised safeguards are nothing more than a mirage’.

The bill will not return to the Commons for the third reading until at least April. In the meantime, a public bill committee of MPs will scrutinise the bill line-by-line and propose amendments. The MPs have not yet been chosen, but Kim Leadbeater is highly likely to be one of them.

The Institute for Government says a large number of amendments are likely to be tabled, including by the government. However, this would not extend to substantial amendments as the principles of the bill were agreed at the second reading. The committee’s focus will be on improving the bill, not reopening the arguments on assisted dying.

In a welcome ‘first’ for a private member’s bill committee, it will have power to take both oral and written evidence. To what extent (if at all) it will use this power remains to be seen – but the Evangelical Alliance is positive.

Writing on the Evangelical Alliance UK website, director of advocacy Danny Webster said: ‘Once the details of this committee and how to submit evidence are finalised, we will be encouraging members to engage, in particular those with experience of supporting people close to death, or in the medical or legal professions.’

The CI is also seeking to speak with lawyers and medics as it continues its work to halt the bill. Ciarán Kelly urged Christians to keep praying and to be ready to approach their MPs again over the coming months. ‘This is a life and death issue. Now is not the time to give up’, he said.

Right To Life UK spokesperson, Catherine Robinson, said: ‘We are now going to redouble our efforts to ensure we fight this bill at every stage and ensure that it is defeated to protect the most vulnerable’.