The campaign to legalise assisted suicide in England and Wales claims that a clear majority of the public are in favour of it. However, a new briefing paper released by the Anscombe Bioethics Centre reveals that the headlines do not reflect a far more complicated reality: only a minority strongly support legalisation, fewer than half want MPs to vote in favour, and very few people think this should be a priority for the Government!
By analysing several different surveys and polls, including two new surveys published in the past week, the paper shows that public opinion on assisted suicide has remained quite stable over recent years. There has been no dramatic increase of those in favour of changing the law to justify proposing another bill so soon after the last one was defeated in 2015.
If anything, there has been a decline in those who ‘strongly support’ legalising assisted suicide!
While a majority of people support a change in the law in principle, at least ‘somewhat’, fewer say that they want their MP to vote in favour. To the question ‘Looking ahead to after the next General Election, would you want your MP to vote for or against legislation to make assisted dying legal in the UK?’ only only 43% said ‘vote for’. In London ‘vote for’ was only 34% and among Asian and Black Britons it was 24%.
There is also widespread confusion with surveys showing between 39% and 42% of people think that ‘assisted dying’ refers to withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment.
MPs should vote based on their own consciences and what they judge to be best for the common good. But they do not need to fear acting against what is claimed to be the opinion of the people!
It’s not too late to email your MP to urge them to oppose the Bill!
… also from the Anscombe Centre: a new video on how legalising Assisted Suicide will have a negative effect on palliative care provision …
As we take compassionate action to oppose the Bill on Assisted Suicide which will come before Parliament this week, the Anscombe Centre for Bioethics has released a video on how the proposed legislation would affect palliative care.
In this discussion, bioethicist Professor David Albert Jones and palliative care specialist Dr Dominic Whitehouse discuss the nature of palliative care, the state of its provision in the UK, and the negative impact of ‘assisted dying’ (euthanasia and / or assisted suicide) on palliative care according to the fullest and latest evidence.
This follows the paper written by Professor Jones and published by the Anscombe Centre yesterday showing that the evidence from multiple jurisdictions that have introduced ‘assisted dying’ – euthanasia and / or assisted suicide (EAS) – is that it has a detrimental effect on the provision of palliative care.
For more information, please see the Anscombe Centre’s full Guide on ‘Assisted Dying’ (euthanasia and assisted suicide), which includes a guide to the latest evidence concerning EAS internationally, the Centre’s series of briefing papers on EAS since 2021 of which the above paper is the latest, and videos on subjects relating to EAS.
For more information on the Anscombe Bioethics Centre, see the Centre’s website: www.bioethics.org.uk
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