Call for a ‘toe in the water’ approach to assisted dying
PDF One of Scotland’s most distinguished academic societies is urging a “toe in the water” approach over proposals to legalise assisted dying.
The Royal Society of Edinburgh, an independent charity set up by Royal Charter in 1783, says Margo MacDonald’s Bill would mean such a significant and controversial change that it should include a clause requiring a fresh debate in five or ten years’ time.
Ms MacDonald’s Bill would allow people who feel their lives have become intolerable through terminal illness or a degenerative condition to ask for assistance to end their life, subject to a range of safeguards.
More than 600 individuals and organisations sent in their views on Ms MacDonald’s Bill and 87 per cent of the submissions were against it.
The Catholic Church made clear its opposition to the Bill: “It will strike a blow against the fundamental sanctity of human life and will permit many lives to be put at risk through varying degrees of psychological, social or cultural coercion.”
A joint statement from the Church of Scotland, Methodist Church and Salvation Army said the Bill would breach the prohibition on the taking of human life, but a working group from the United Reformed Church in Scotland said assisted dying, as conceived in the terms of the Bill, could be viewed as “a loving act”.
• Full story at The Scotsman.
