‘Those cracks we see in our daily lives will become chasms for vulnerable people in a world where this life-or-death decision hangs ever over them – and many of them will fall through’
It is understandable that those who believe in the principles of choice and autonomy are drawn to support the idea of assisted dying.
It feels like the progressive, liberal thing to do. But the reality is: this Bill is not progressive.
This Bill puts some of the most vulnerable people in our society at risk of being coerced into ending their lives prematurely.
Having worked for many years in a domestic abuse charity, I know that coercion is not a risk with this legislation – it is a certainty.
There is nothing progressive about giving perpetrators of domestic abuse a new way to kill their victims.
There is nothing progressive about helping a suicidal person starving themselves to death to kill themselves quicker.
There is nothing progressive about disabled people being told by society that their lives are lesser and therefore not worth living.
Assisted dying has consistently been promoted as an issue of ‘choice’. But what true choice does a suicidal person have?
What choice does an older victim of domestic abuse have when every day for decades they have been made to feel less than worthless?
What choice does a grandparent have when care fees would swallow up their family’s savings?
‘Choice’ is a fallacy here. We do not live in an ideal world of equal paths and starting positions. We live in an imperfect world, and those imperfections – writ large in a state-run system to end lives – will be devastating.
Those cracks we see in our daily lives will become chasms for vulnerable people in a world where this life-or-death decision hangs ever over them – and many of them will fall through.
As progressives we should not be ignoring the voices of disabled people, elderly people, those from ethnic minority backgrounds.
We ought to be standing up for those who do not have voice: the vulnerable, the excluded, the abused.
Supporting this Bill requires us to make the cold calculation that those vulnerable people, who will wrongfully die because of the assisted dying process, are collateral damage in the pursuit of ‘choice’ for a few.
I cannot in all good conscience stomach that – and nor should any progressive.