A response to Lord Carey on assisted suicide
by James Mildred, Christian Today:
The former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey, has told MPs that legalising assisted suicide is “profoundly Christian”. He wrote to them as the Health and Social Care Committee continues to take evidence as part of its formal inquiry into the current law.
Currently assisted suicide and euthanasia (the former refers to doctors helping patients kill themselves and the latter involves the doctor administering the lethal injection themselves) are illegal across the UK. Lord Carey has been a consistent advocate for assisted suicide. He is an experienced church leader and I admire the stance that he has taken on other issues. But on this one, I must respectfully, but firmly disagree.
I believe his position undermines key biblical doctrines. And I worry too that while it comes across as reasonable and compassionate, the reality is the conversation around assisted suicide needs to be much more nuanced: it is not the case that either side of the debate has a monopoly on compassion.
Lord Carey’s arguments in favour of law change are not new: assisting someone in their suicide, he says, is an “act of great generosity, kindness and human love”, looking to end their suffering and release them from pain.
The problem with this is that it is a far less compassionate position than it appears. It is built on a shaky assumption: that we could safely pass an assisted suicide law that would allow a small number of people the option of being helped to kill themselves in certain, strictly regulated circumstances.
This fails to account for what’s happening in places like Canada. There, assisted suicide was legalised in 2016 and a mere five years later, the eligibility criteria had been vastly expanded and key safeguards were quietly dropped as public opinion shifted. One former Paralympian simply wanted a stairlift to be put in her home. In reply, the official sent her a leaflet about assisted suicide. That doesn’t sound like a compassionate society to me.
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