Scottish Parliament blasted for rejecting assisted suicide safeguards

Scottish Parliament members (MSPs) have dismissed a raft of amendments meant to protect vulnerable people from the worst portions of Liberal Democrat backbench MSP Liam McArthur’s contentious Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill.

Key Takeaways:

• The bill allows terminally ill residents of Scotland to request medically-assisted death without key safeguards,

• The bill leaves open to interpretation the meaning of "terminally ill" without life expectancy timelines, offers no protections for individuals with treatable conditions like anorexia nervosa, and fails to offer greater protections against coercion of vulnerable individuals.

The Details:

The Christian Institute reported:  

The Health, Social Care and Sport Committee voted down a dozen proposals which, among other changes, would have restricted assisted suicide to those considered to have less than six months to live; offered protection for people with conditions such as anorexia nervosa and Down’s syndrome; and introduced greater ‘safeguards’ against coercion.

MSPs rejected the proposed amendments offering safeguards for vulnerable people, leaving the Bill without any specified life expectancy limit, implying that people who could still live for years would be able to qualify or opt for assisted suicide.

Among the amendments rejected by the committee were proposals meant to restrict eligibility and protect vulnerable individuals, as well as a proposal that would have mandated individuals opting for assisted suicide to have a "fully costed" palliative care support plan, thus ensuring that an assisted suicide option was a last resort plan. 

The lawmakers’ rejection implies that the bill, which permits terminally ill adults who have been residents in Scotland for at least 12 months to request medical assistance to terminate their lives, can now proceed in Parliament without key safeguards, sparking serious worries among pro-life advocates and disability rights supporters.

Why It Matters:

Major opponents of the Bill have cautioned that it is “reckless” and lacks critical protections.

Labour MSP Pam Duncan-Glancy, who uses a wheelchair, pointed out that she herself would be eligible for assisted suicide under the bill, showcasing how the it does not offer genuine safeguards and devalues the lives of individuals with disabilities. 

Similarly, Independent MSP Jeremy Balfour said that the committee’s decision would result in the definition of terminal illness in the Bill being “extraordinarily broad,” elaborating:

“... [A]s it stands it could include individuals who would live not for weeks or months, but for years. People managing long-term conditions, people receiving treatment that stabilises their illness, people who still have meaningful time ahead of them, would all fall within the scope of the Bill as drafted at the moment.”

Conservative MSP Murdo Fraser declared that obliging doctors and nurses to “provide the means” to end the lives of their patients would “blur the moral and professional boundaries upon which public trust in the NHS depends.”

Gordon Macdonald, Chief Executive of Care Not Killing, slammed the Committee for implementing “a Swiss cheese approach to legislation: vote it through now despite the holes, and promise to sort it out later. But this isn’t a minor policy tweak; it’s about life and death.” 

“On such a sensitive issue, with such serious risks to the most vulnerable, that attitude is reckless. Scotland deserves better than half-finished law-making,” Macdonald said. 

The Bottom Line:

The recent rejection of mitigating changes to the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill marks an ominous step toward legalizing assisted suicide without adequate safeguards for vulnerable people in Scotland, particularly chronically ill and disabled individuals.

In response, pro-life advocates should intensify their efforts to raise awareness and resist this piece of anti-life legislation that would sanction death as a convenient solution over providing compassionate care and support for vulnerable people and the terminally ill.