ARCHBISHOP EAMON MARTIN, the leader of the Catholic Church in Ireland, has called on Northern Ireland MPs to reject the assisted dying bill that will be voted on in Westminster tomorrow.
UK Labour MP Kim Leadbeater formally introduced her Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill to Parliament in October and a debate and first vote is expected to take place tomorrow.
If the Bill passes the first stage, it will go to committee stage where MPs can table amendments, before facing further scrutiny and votes in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, meaning any change in the law would not be agreed until next year at the earliest.
The Bill would apply only to England and Wales and any move to legalise assisted dying in Northern Ireland would have to be passed by MLAs in the devolved Assembly at Stormont.
However, Northern Ireland MPs will have a vote tomorrow on the assisted dying bill.
Last week, Alliance MP Sorcha Eastwood said she would be voting against the bill.
She noted that it is a “conscience issue and not whipped”.
Eastwood added that she has “huge concerns that palliative care is not adequately funded and many hospices are reliant on charity fundraising”.
She said she had “given a lot of thought to it over the last months” and that it is “not a decision I take lightly”.
Robin Swann of the Ulster Unionist Party, Jim Allister of the TUV and the DUP’s four MPs will also vote against the bill.
However, former SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said he would be voting in favour of the bill, adding that his decision was influenced by “all the people that I have known who have had difficult, bad deaths”.
Sinn Fein do not take their seats in Westminster.
‘An affront to a protective society’
In a statement today, Archbishop Eamon Martin said “the introduction of law to permit assisted suicide is an affront to a safe and protective society”.
He further issued a “strong appeal” to MPs from Northern Ireland to oppose the bill in the House of Commons tomorrow.
Martin added: “As a society we are defined by the extent to which we care for our most vulnerable persons including those suffering from disabilities, terminal illness or otherwise nearing the end of life.
“While this is a Gospel imperative, it is noteworthy that medical and healthcare professionals are also gravely concerned at an evolving political ideology which would interfere with their calling to ‘do no harm’ and which would legally erode the right to life at all stages.”
Martin also referenced an open letter published by the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference in June, which was published in response to an Oireachtas Committee report that recommended that the Irish government legislate to allow for assisted dying.
The overarching recommendation was that assisted dying should be made legal in Ireland, but with significant safeguards put in place.
The June letter from the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference stated that legislating for assisted dying would “undermine the confidence of people who are terminally ill, who want to be cared for and want to live life as fully as possible until death naturally comes”.
“People who are dying are entitled to be accompanied in a holistic way,” added the letter.
“We believe that palliative care services need to be more widely available, in hospitals and hospices and in the community.”