70 parliamentarians sign letter urging Govt not to change law on assisted suicide

This week 70 MPs and Peers wrote to the Lord Chancellor, stating their concerns about recent calls to change the law on assisted suicide in the UK.

In their letter to Rt Hon Robert Buckland QC MP, they respond to a recent letter from the All-Party Parliamentary Humanist Group, who have asked the Lord Chancellor to consider whether the law should be reviewed and doctors allowed to give patients lethal drugs to end their lives if they meet certain criteria.

The letter argues that the UK should heed the example of jurisdictions that have changed the law, where the ‘narrow’ safeguards originally introduced that limited assisted suicide to people with certain conditions, or with a short amount of time left to live, have been eroded over time and the law has incrementally expanded.

They also argue that changing the law would not protect vulnerable people, who would feel a pressure to die for fear of being a burden on others. Assisted suicide would also normalise all suicide, which has been seen in places such as the Netherlands where the suicide rate has increased by 20 per cent since the law was changed.

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