Is Britain ready for assisted dying?
A majority in the lower chamber of the British parliament, the House of Commons, has voted in favour of making assisted dying accessible to the terminally ill in England and Wales. The law allows adults with less than six months to live access to medical assistance in ending their lives. The decision will now be put to a panel of experts. The national press is divided.
Morbid austerity
This is not what progressiveness looks like, argues The Daily Telegraph:
“Supporters spoke of humanising the law, of continuing the 'progressive' effort begun in the 1960s when abortion was first permitted. But ... social liberalism in a time of economic growth was about increasing choice; today, in a period of austerity, it suggests narrowing options. Can't afford a baby? Terminate it. Worry you might burden the grandkids? Take a seat in the suicide pod. Of course this isn't what MPs meant by voting this way - but when you cut benefits for the elderly and cap them for children, and then make it easier to destroy yourself or your baby, it's hard not to infer a link.”
The terminally ill are not criminals
The Independent welcomes the vote to legalise assisted dying:
“It cannot be right to treat as criminal someone who is terminally ill and who wants to decide the time and manner of their death - or the people who assist them in this decision. The only question, it seems to us, is whether the protection against pressure being put on someone to end their life was strong enough. ... The current situation is that those with means can travel to Switzerland to take advantage of the law there ... This bill will make that choice available to more people in England and Wales, and under rather stricter rules than apply in Switzerland.”