In a pastoral letter to his diocese to mark the first Sunday of Advent, Bishop Philip Egan stressed that a line has been crossed in Britain from which there is no return.
The Terminally Ill (End of Life) Bill passed Second Reading by 330 votes to 275, a majority of 55, making extremely likely that assisting in suicides will be lawful for the first time in British history.
At present, assisted suicide is prohibited by up to 14 years in jail under the Suicide Act 1961, though prosecutions are rare.
The Bill will allow medical practitioners to assist in the suicides of terminally ill adults who are deemed to have just six months to live. Two doctors and a High Court judge must approve their deaths.
“Our world here in the UK has now changed, unfortunately not for the better,” the Bishop wrote.
“As people of reason and people of faith, we know this is a truly bad move. It will put pressure on the elderly and the dying, making them feel they are a burden”.
“Although not unexpected, this vote poses a grave danger. Britain is now crossing a line from which there will be no return.”
Bishop Egan stressed the need to continue the fight and to contact MPs – around 30 who voted for the Bill said they might change their minds at a later stage if they deem the safeguards insufficient – and encourage them to vote against the third reading of the Bill when it takes place.
“This legislation, however, makes one thing crystal clear. Britain is no longer a Christian country. To be a Christian in future will not be easy, if ever it was.”
“More and more, as in ages past, we will stand out from the crowd and from others in our society who see human life, its dignity and value, in a radically different way.”
“It is my hope that God will give us the grace to live our discipleship ever more authentically so that the true beauty of our Catholic faith might become even more evident.
“I pray that the splendor veritatis, the beauty of the Truth, the hope it gives, especially to the vulnerable, and the Gospel vision of the human person – fallen but redeemed, an incarnate spirit called to live a good life here on earth and one day to be with God for ever in Paradise – will shine out for all to see.”
Bishop Mark Davies of Shrewsbury has also spoken out, saying: “It
is a dark day for our country when the Christian witness to genuine
compassion and the value of human life is more needed than ever.”
Auxiliary Bishop John Sherrington of Westminster, Lead Bishop for Life Issues of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, described the Bill as “flawed in principle”.
The bishops collectively, he said, were “disappointed” by the vote to allow the Bill to progress to its next stage.
Bishop Sherrington said: “We ask the Catholic community to pray that Members of Parliament will have the wisdom to reject this bill at a later stage in its progress.
“We are particularly concerned with clauses in the Bill that prevent doctors from properly exercising conscientious objection, provide inadequate protection to hospices and care homes that do not wish to participate in assisted suicide and allow doctors to initiate conversations about assisted suicide.
“We ask that these voices be heard in the next stages of the Bill to strengthen the deep concerns about this proposed legislation.
“We have expressed the view, during this debate, that genuine compassion involves walking with those who need care, especially during sickness, disability and old age.
“The vocation to care is at the heart of the lives of so many people who look after their loved ones and is the sign of a truly compassionate society.
“It is essential that we nurture and renew the innate call that many people have to compassionately care for others.
Bishop Sherrington added: “It remains the case that improving the quality and availability of palliative care offers the best pathway to reducing suffering at the end of life.
“We will continue to advocate for this and support those who work tirelessly to care for the dying in our hospices, hospitals and care homes.”
The Bill, introduced by Kim Leadbeater, the Labour MP for Spen Valley, will now proceed to Committee Stage where MPs can table amendments before it will be passed to the House of Lords.
Opening a five-hour debate, Ms Leadbeater said her Bill would bring “choice, autonomy and dignity” at the end of life.
She said: “It may not be that surprising that most people believe, as I do, that we should all have the right to make the choices and decisions we want about our own bodies.”
She added: “Let’s be clear, we are not talking about a choice between life or death, we are talking about giving dying people a choice of how to die.”
Conservative MP Danny Kruger warned MPs however that the Bill was dangerously flawed and urged them to vote against it.
He said: “All you need to do to qualify for an assisted death, the definition of terminal illness under this Bill, is to refuse treatment – like insulin if you’re diabetic.’
He continued: “In the case of eating disorders you just need to refuse food and the evidence is, in jurisdictions around the world and in our own jurisprudence, that would be enough to qualify you for an assisted death.”
Mr Kruger added: “My view is that if we get our broken palliative care system right and our wonderful hospices properly funded we can do so much more for all the people that we will hear about today, using modern pain relief and therapies to help everybody die with a minimum of suffering when the time comes.
“But we won’t be able to do that if we introduce this new option. Instead we will expose many more people to harm.”
Labour MP Diane Abbott, the Mother of the House, said the state should not be involved in taking lives.
“In 1969, Parliament voted to abolish the death penalty for murder,” she said. “Public opinion was actually against it, but MPs believed [as] a point of principle that the state should not be involved in taking a life.
“It was a good principle in 1969, and it remains a good principle today.”
In a powerful intervention, Conservative MP Robert Jenrick warned MPs that “activist judges in Strasbourg” could soon expand eligibility criteria for doctor-assisted death.
The shadow justice secretary said: “I worry, in fact I am as certain as night follows day, this law if passed will change. Not as a result of the individuals in this chamber or in the Lords, but as a result of judges in other places.
“We’ve seen that time and again. It may be on either side of the debate but it will happen,” he said. “Bad law on trivial things is bad enough … bad law on matters of life and death is unforgivable.”
Tim Farron, the former leader of the Liberal Democrats, said the assisted dying Bill would put Britain on a “dystopian” path.
He said: “Here we are on the precipice of agreeing to sanction and support the deaths of people in despair.
“A society has chosen a dystopian and contagious path if it chooses to facilitate the death of those who have a terminal illness rather than standing with them, weeping with them, valuing them and loving them against the desolation that any of us would feel if we were given a diagnosis of that sort.”