Ann Furedi, former CEO of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), the UK’s largest abortion provider, has described efforts to revive the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill as a “serious mistake”.
Labour MP Lauren Edwards is currently planning to reintroduce the bill after a previous version
failed to pass Parliament in April.
While pro-euthanasia campaigners have been pushing hard for the law to be changed, public
concern about the bill has been evident in opinion polls, particularly regarding the risk of coercion or pressure being placed on vulnerable people to end their lives if a euthanasia regime were introduced. Disability rights groups were among the strongest opponents of the bill earlier this year.
Furedi’s intervention in the debate at this point is significant given her high profile as an abortion advocate. Writing in an op-ed for Kent Online, she said:
“As somebody who has dedicated their entire life to campaigning under the banner of “choice,” I can tell you this legislation is a serious mistake. ‘Choice’ doesn’t take place in a vacuum. People make decisions within families, institutions and cultural contexts. They are shaped by access to care, levels of support, and perceptions of their own worth. That is especially true at the end of life.
“When considering ending their lives, vulnerable people will likely be under the influence of
potentially deadly pressures not always easily detected. Is their illness burdening the lives of friends and family? Are they costing too much on the NHS? At the same time, the devastating news of serious ill health or impending death can create a kind of internal pressure that does not lend itself to rational decision-making. Sick people are just as impacted by depression and suicidal thoughts as physically healthy people.
“If assisted dying becomes legal”, Furedi remarked, “we could end up in a situation where we offer one suicidal person hope and a helpline to guide them away from taking their own lives, and in another case, do everything we can to facilitate their suicide”.
She read my mind. Life is becoming devalued and is in many cases rated lower than convenience and cost. Thank God she has spoken out with courage.
I agree Catherine. Considering her standpoint on the value of human life of the aborted foetus which was obviously devalued in her previous role as CEO of the BPAS, she has demonstrated a brave turnabout on the value of human life regarding assisted suicide. Mind you that is perhaps because in the future she could be one of those vulnerable people that family try to pressurise so perhaps an element of self-interest is at play here.