This is my latest column in Christian Today – you can get the original here
Euthanasia, mercy killing, assisted suicide or whatever you care to call it is a profoundly difficult, emotional and complex subject which many Christians, including yours truly, struggle with.
On the one hand the case for preventing pointless suffering at the end of life seems strong. That is until you examine the consequences of a society allowing the State to kill its own citizens – even at their request. I have wrestled with, and continue to wrestle with, all the complexities of this. For example I wrote this open letter on the subject to my MP. And I took a whole episode of my podcast to reflect on the emotions, realities and theological implications of it all.
As someone who personally came very close to death and who regularly ministers to those who are dying or want to die, I have a deep and personal interest in this. So it was with a heavy heart that I woke up one morning this week in Australia only to discover that the politicians in my native land had decided to go the regressive route of assisted suicide.
The Scottish Parliament has already turned down physician assisted suicide two times, but that has not stopped those for whom this is the equivalent of a religious doctrine which must be enforced. This week, after yet another attempt, the Scottish Parliament voted 70 to 56 in favour of allowing assisted suicide.
You will note that I am refusing to call it assisted dying. That is because it is not assisted dying. When you grant someone palliative care, you are assisting them in their death. When you assist someone to take their own life, you are assisting their suicide. Words, names and language matter.
The bill allows terminally ill, mentally competent adults to seek medical help to end their lives. It is not yet law and will still have to pass through two more stages of parliamentary procedure before it becomes law, but it is unlikely that eight MSPs will change their minds.
The debate, and the reporting on it, followed the usual patterns in these debates. People told understandably emotive stories of suffering relatives, although stories of those who felt pressured to take their own lives were absent from the reporting.
The politicians congratulated themselves on what a respectful debate they had had. The victors announced that this was a “victory for compassion”. The Labour MSP Pam Duncan-Clancy, the first wheelchair user to be elected to Holyrood, gave a superb speech pointing out the threats to disabled people because of this legislation. The Glasgow MSP said she feared it could become “easier to access help to die than help to live”. And she warned the bill could “legitimise a view that a life like ours, one of dependence and often pain, is not worth living”. I loved the fact that she was supported by the wonderful disabled actor, Liz Carr, the star of Silent Witness.
It is notable that the Scottish First Minister John Swinney, and his deputy, Kate Forbes, voted against. As did the Labour leader, Anas Sarwar, and former First Ministers Nicola Sturgeon and Humza Yousaf. It is equally fascinating that 11 Tory MSPs voted in favour (19 against); 41 SNP in favour (19 against); all the Greens of course voted in favour; and the Lib Dems voted 4 in favour, 1 against. What surprised and encouraged me was that while 7 Labour MSPs voted in favour, 15 voted against.
It is also interesting that the UK government slipped out a report last Friday which callously suggested that assisted suicide could save the NHS $10 million per year, and something called the Equality Impact Assessment which was concerned with barriers that could prevent disabled and mentally ill people from taking advantage of this ‘service’. The report even talks about the disadvantages that ‘pregnant persons’, the poor, and transgender people might face in requesting assisted suicide.
Which brings me back to the personal. This week was also my mother’s 90th birthday. She is a frail woman who lives on her own in the Scottish Highlands. I marvel at her strength and life. God forbid that she would ever feel under any pressure to take her own life – for the sake of her children. Do not doubt that that happens. A woman is told that she can either sell her home and pay for her end-of-life care or take her life and have her children keep their inheritance. Who would not feel that pressure?
I now live in a country – Australia – where assisted suicide is legal and encouraged. I cannot begin to describe what a darkness that brings on those whose job is to heal and care for the dying and yet are compelled to offer and facilitate their death. And the pressure on those who feel elderly, disabled and useless is real and sustained.
One quote on X summarised the whole situation for me: “A sad day for Scotland. I simply cannot trust a Parliament that didn’t know the difference between a man and a woman to produce a piece of legislation that won’t result in the most vulnerable in society being killed by the State.”
In Proverbs 8:36 we are told that it is those who hate the personification of Wisdom (ultimately seen in Christ) who love death. Increasingly Western societies, as they turn away from their Christian roots, become cultures of death. We hope and pray that we will turn back, and once again become cultures of life.
David Robertson, a Scot in exile, Newcastle, New South Wales. Find him at The Wee Flea.
Thanks for putting in to words what I’ve been thinking.
I feel with you, David! I have fought this battle for the past 20 years, and still feel the anguish when nations do this to their people. We prosper in a culture of LIFE – not death!
David, it is indeed to Scotland’s shame that the ‘progressives’ have managed to push this through.
We pray that Christ would once again be honoured in Scotland!
Again ignoring my pleas to throw out The Bill ,( as she has ignored pleas on other issues) my MSP replied through a third party that she had already decided to support it. Thankfully nationalism is on the wane but the calibre from opposition parties does not give us much confidence for hope in the future.
This time I petitioned twice , to no avail ! The Secularists and Humanists are on the march in Scotland. Thankfully our hope is for a better life beyond , but I do pray for Christian Doctors and Nurses who seek to heal and save in a country that today , sees less value in their calling and now view their presence with suspicion .
Sensible piece David. Palliative and end of life care are so poorly developed as disciplines. Also there are vast geographic disparities in accessing good palliative care. The fact that hospices are charities rather than being part of the NHS is another issue. I often wonder why people campaign for the cheap and nasty option rather than for comprehensive health care. There is no choice with this legislation. We need assisted living legislation not assisted dying (aka suicide) legislation.
Thanks David, for this thoughtful and well put together piece. What saddened me most about the Scottish Parliament vote was the lack of a respectful “Holy hush” moment after the vote – as happened at Westminster in November last year when MPs narrowly voted the Leadbeater Bill through to Committee stage. At least at Westminster, there was a sense that some of the MPs were taking the vote seriously with perhaps some thinking, “What have we done?” There was no respectful silence at Holyrood. Indeed some MSPs clapped in jubilation at the result. This shows their disrespect towards those MSPs who did try to warn them about the pitfalls, most notably Pam Duncan-Glancy who pointed out the genuine and realistic fears disabled people have. I told my own MP before the Westminster vote last year that he could just walk away after wrestling with the subject but that the medical professionals expected to “do the deed” should this become law – couldn’t. He still voted in favour of progressing to committee stage. I hope and pray that Westminster will throw the Bill out at the next vote expected to take place soon – but I won’t be holding my breath…. May the western nations turn back to the Lord Jesus Who is our only hope. He is the Way, the Truth and the LIFE
It is also said that societies which have no respect for the beginning of life will have no respect for its end, how apparent that is both in Holyrood and Westminster. Assisted suicide is being framed as a ‘treatment’ and will force health professionals to kill their patients, eradicating the Hippocratic principle of ‘help but do not harm’. NHS funds will be diverted from care to killing, and result in deaths which are often far from the peaceful bliss proponents envisage. May God be merciful (Habakkuk 3:2)
Hi Adele.
It looks like the free market will be applied here – with assisted suicide not being provided free as part of the NHS. A lot of supporters don’t seem to be aware that they will be charged for the “service’. Meanwhile palliative and end of life care remain under provided, underfunded and under researched. Disgraceful.
We have already had-“assisted dying”-for a very long time, in the deeper and honest sense of those two words. UK law makes plain that no one should be coerced against declining treatment if they have capacity to make that decision. Lots of people decline treatment when they feel risk outweighs benefit, or prospective lifespan left is just too low to justify major treatment and/or prolonged recovery. The so-called-“doctrine of double effect”-is applied every hour and day of the week, when morphine and other analgesics are used at the end of life. The Scottish situation is a farce. What kind of medics, and what professional minority, will relish giving lethal. injections?