Our Catholic Faith requires us to uphold the sanctity of life from conception to natural death. Kim Leadbeater’s Assisted Suicide Bill, due for its Third Reading at the end of this month, is a grave threat to this fundamental principle. It is our moral duty to oppose this legislation, which seeks to legalise physician-assisted suicide and erode the dignity of human life.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church is very clear: “God alone is the Lord of life from its beginning until its end: no one can under any circumstance claim for himself the right directly to destroy an innocent human being” (CCC#2258). Legalising assisted suicide undermines this truth by suggesting that some lives are less valuable than others, particularly the elderly, the disabled and the terminally ill.

Our own MP, Dr Jeevun Sandher has publicly proclaimed his support of this Bill, but says he would not want it to go any further than what is being proposed at the moment. But experience from other countries has shown that this is the moral slippery slope, and that once assisted suicide is legalised, the limits expand over time. What starts off as an option for the terminally ill soon expands to those with chronic illnesses, mental struggles and even depression. Remember the Abortion Bill! In Canada and the Netherands, euthanasia laws have caused an alarming rise in deaths, including cases where people felt pressurised due to social or financial burdens. The elderly and those with disabilities often face pressure from carers and even family members to end their lives.

Compassion does not mean ending a life. It means being with those who suffer, offering them our love, care and support. The Catholic response to suffering is not assisted suicide, but really good palliative care that manages pain, while at the same time affirming human dignity. The Church is calling for improving access to and the quality of palliative care, not legalising killing.

So what are we to do? Certainly we must continue to pray for the defeat of this Bill. Then we must write again to our MP, Dr Jeevun Sandher and ask him to vote against it, even if you have already done so. The Independent has reported that at least 36 MPs who supported the Bill did so only to facilitate further discussion, or have now indicated they may well not support it at the Third Reading. Since then, several other MPs have said they are reconsidering their positions and may well vote against it at the Third Reading. With the vote having previously passed by a margin of just 55, only 28 MPs would need to change their position for the Bill to be defeated which is certainly within reach. If the Bill gets through, thousands of people will be put at risk in the coming years.

Not Dead Yet UK, a network of disabled people opposing the Bill, have printed postcards with evidence-based reasons to oppose the Bill, urging MPs to vote against it at the Third Reading. If these cards are sent to our MP in significant numbers, it may well have an impact. The postcards are at the back of the church, and you need only sign it with your address and send it to Dr Sandher at the House of Commons. It will cost you the price of a stamp.

This weekend there is a Pastoral letter on this topic from His Eminence Cardinal Vincent Nichols written on behalf of all the Bishops of England and Wales. Copies will be available at the end of Mass. Let us stand firm in our faith and protect the dignity of all human life.

Fr Paul Gillham, IC