By Dominica Roberts
The last few weeks have seen several high profile news stories on euthanasia, with the ProLife Alliance actively speaking out against any attempt to allow assisted suicide or euthanasia.
The ProLife Alliance strongly supports improvements in palliative care and support for disabled people and strongly opposes the deliberate ending of life. Medical care should always be given in line with the best interests of the patient. A patient has the right to refuse medical care which he or she thinks is unwarranted, but not to be deliberately “helped to die” by those who should be offering support.
BBC’s Panorama on Monday December 8th contained a virtual advertisement for assisted suicide by a Scottish MP, Margo MacDonald, who praised Dutch euthanasia laws. However, the truth is that euthanasia in Holland is out of control. Official statistics are unreliable as three-quarters of Dutch doctors admit not reporting euthanasia cases. Each year, in Holland, in addition to euthanasia, there is a large volume of “intentional life-terminating acts without explicit request” – known in Britain as ‘murder’. Scottish MP, Margo MacDonald also outrageously included an Australian clip showing how to commit suicide.
The ProLife Alliance deplores any suicide and we will continue to speak out to warn of the dangers of glamorising euthanasia and presenting it as a solution to depression, instead of helping people
who are depressed to get the counselling and care they need.
The need for counselling and support is overwhelmingly clear in the case of Dan James, the 23 year old rugby player who was paralysed and was taken by his parents to the Swiss Clinic Dignitas to commit suicide. Recently, the Director of Public Prosecutions decided not to prosecute his parents for assisting in his suicide. What kind of a message does this send out to anyone with similar injuries? Several people with similar injuries have been profiled in the media as expressing sadness that Dan James chose to end his life, when he may have overcome his feelings of despair with counselling and support.
Last Wednesday, Sky television showed the actual moment of death of a British “suicide tourist” at the Zurich Dignitas clinic in a move which was heavily criticised as sensationalist TV, given that
euthanasia is still illegal in the UK.
In response to this programme, the ProLife Alliance was interviewed on several local radio stations (BBC Three Counties Radio and LBC) . On LBC, the interviewer was strongly pro-euthanasia. When we pointed out that the right-to-die would lead to people feeling as though they had a duty-to-die, he actually responded in favour of a duty-to-die for elderly incapacitated people!
The ProLife Alliance was also quoted extensively in the national, regional and foreign media including the South West News, the Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail, the Evening Standard and the Guardian.
It is vital that everyone who understands the dangers of euthanasia should make their voice heard. The recent spate of euthanasia cases in the media has presented a very skewed view of assisted suicide. It is more interesting for the media to show one suicide case, than to write about or show on TV 50,000 people helped by hospices and palliative care experts to live out their lives in reasonable comfort and happiness.
The media is fond of the question “Why shouldn’t I do what I like with my own life?”, but completely ignores the fact that euthanasia cases represent a tiny number of cases compared to the hundreds of thousands of people represented by disability groups, not just in the UK but worldwide, who are overwhelmingly against changes in the law which protects their vulnerable members.
For more detailed discussion of euthanasia, see the website of Care Not Killing of which the ProLife Alliance is a member. We urge supporters to seize very chance to write, e-mail, or telephone the media every time a similar topic is aired, to correct inaccuracies, challenge assumptions, and simply add to the weight of pro-life opinion. Let us know what response you get!
