https://sputnikglobe.com/20241007/starmer-ally-hints-assisted-dying-laws-for-people-should-take-a-page-from-animal-euthanasia-rules-1120463325.html
Starmer Ally Hints Assisted Dying Laws for People Should Take a Page From Animal Euthanasia Rules
Starmer Ally Hints Assisted Dying Laws for People Should Take a Page From Animal Euthanasia Rules
Sputnik International
While passive euthanasia is legal in Britain, active euthanasia is not. Lobbyists have made a series of attempts to change the law going back to the 1930s. Now, a Labour lawmaker plans to try again.
2024-10-07T19:02+0000
2024-10-07T19:02+0000
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Human beings in Britain should be get the same level of dignity in dying as animals get, Kim Leadbeater, a Labour MP planning to introduce new assisted dying legislation in parliament, has said.Leadbeater is set to introduce her bill on October 16, with Prime Minister Keir Starmer promising to remain neutral and not crack the whip of party discipline to force Labour MPs to vote one way or another.The lawmaker said that “lots of conversations” she’s had with constituents, fellow MPs, family, friends, charities and other organizations have convinced her to propose her legislation, dubbed the ‘Choice at the End of Life for Terminally Ill Adults’ act, and to be persuaded that the current law “is not fit for purpose.”Speaking of her bill, Leadbeater spoke glowingly about the experiences of countries which already have active assisted dying laws on the books.Leadbeater’s bill is the first of its kind since 2015, when assisted dying legislation introduced by now ex-Labour MP Rob Marris was defeated in a 300 to 118 vote.The campaign in support of active euthanasia was then taken up by Dame Esther Rantzen, an 84-year-old former BBC television presenter and charity organizer with stage 4 lung cancer, who has campaigned actively for the initiative, and joined the Dignitas assisted dying clinic in Switzerland last December.“I made a promise to Esther Rantzen before the election that we would provide time for a debate and a vote on assisted dying,” Starmer told reporters last week ahead of the introduction of Leadbeater’s bill.Britain’s history with assisted dying reform attempts goes back to 1931, when Royal Institute of Public Health president Killick Millard recommended making voluntary euthanasia an option for the incurably disabled. A British Voluntary Euthanasia Society was established in the mid-1930s (and is now known as the Dignity in Dying lobbying group).Additional legislative proposals were attempted in 1970, 1997, and four times between 2003 and 2006 by Labour peer Lord Joel Joffe, defeated each time in a vote. An Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults bill was introduced in Scotland’s parliament in March 2024.A recent Sputnik investigation into assisted dying discovered that while the compassion-driven motives behind euthanasia laws may be noble, the passage of legislation on the issue often turns into a slippery slope, with laws in Belgium, Columbia, Canada and other countries limiting euthanasia to terminally ill adults subsequently expanded to children and the non-terminally ill (and even discussed as an option for the mentally ill).Lobbying in favor of assisted dying by activist organizations and corporations including George Soros’ Open Society Foundations and Pfizer have also raised questions about the true motivations at play.
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is assisted dying legal in uk, is active euthanasia legal in britain, what is active euthanasia
is assisted dying legal in uk, is active euthanasia legal in britain, what is active euthanasia
Starmer Ally Hints Assisted Dying Laws for People Should Take a Page From Animal Euthanasia Rules
While passive euthanasia is legal in Britain, active euthanasia (i.e. the injection of a lethal dose of a drug by a doctor or some other active measure to kill a patient) is not. Lobbyists have made a series of attempts to change the law going back to the 1930s, but have failed to date. Now, a Labour lawmaker plans to try again.
Human beings in Britain should be get the same level of dignity in dying as animals get, Kim Leadbeater, a Labour MP planning to introduce new assisted dying legislation in parliament, has said.
“We wouldn’t treat animals like this,” Leadbeater
said in a Times interview over the weekend, arguing that “we give our animals a better send-of than we do some human beings when they’re facing the end of life.”
Leadbeater is set to introduce her bill on October 16, with Prime Minister Keir Starmer promising to remain neutral and not crack the whip of party discipline to force Labour MPs to vote one way or another.
The lawmaker said that “lots of conversations” she’s had with constituents, fellow MPs, family, friends, charities and other organizations have convinced her to propose her legislation, dubbed the ‘Choice at the End of Life for Terminally Ill Adults’ act, and to be persuaded that the current law “is not fit for purpose.”
Speaking of her bill, Leadbeater spoke glowingly about the experiences of countries which already
have active assisted dying laws on the books.
“What often happens in other countries is that people might have signed up to be part of the assisted dying program, and often they don’t even use it. But just having the comfort of knowing the choice is there for them, if they did need it, is enough. And if it that eases their pain in the last few weeks or months of life, then I think that is a good thing in itself,” the lawmaker said.
Leadbeater’s bill is the first of its kind since 2015, when assisted dying legislation introduced by now ex-Labour MP Rob Marris was defeated in a 300 to 118 vote.
The campaign in support of active euthanasia was then taken up by Dame Esther Rantzen, an 84-year-old former BBC television presenter and charity organizer with stage 4 lung cancer, who has campaigned actively for the initiative, and joined the Dignitas assisted dying clinic in Switzerland last December.
“I made a promise to Esther Rantzen before the election that we would provide time for a debate and a vote on assisted dying,” Starmer told reporters last week ahead of the introduction of Leadbeater’s bill.
Britain’s history with assisted dying reform attempts goes back to 1931, when Royal Institute of Public Health president Killick Millard recommended making voluntary euthanasia an option for the incurably disabled. A British Voluntary Euthanasia Society was established in the mid-1930s (and is now known as the Dignity in Dying lobbying group).
Additional legislative proposals were attempted in 1970, 1997, and four times between 2003 and 2006 by Labour peer Lord Joel Joffe, defeated each time in a vote. An Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults bill was introduced in Scotland’s parliament in March 2024.
A recent Sputnik
investigation into assisted dying discovered that while the compassion-driven motives behind euthanasia laws may be noble, the passage of legislation on the issue often turns into a slippery slope, with laws in Belgium, Columbia, Canada and other countries limiting euthanasia to terminally ill adults subsequently expanded to children and the non-terminally ill (and even discussed as an option for the mentally ill).
Lobbying in favor of assisted dying by activist organizations and corporations including George Soros’ Open Society Foundations and Pfizer have also raised questions about the true motivations at play.
