The signatures, gathered by Care Not Killing within just four weeks, demand an end to the proposals laid down in Lord Joffe’s Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill Bill that will see a change in the law to allow physician-assisted suicide if the Bill is approved.
CNK campaign director Dr Peter Saunders said: “We believe that this is a very bad Bill and one that would create great problems for old and sick patients and the medical and nursing professions. Over the past few days as the public has become aware of the issues at stake, people have been signing our petition opposing the Bill at the rate of 10,000 a day. More than 100, 000 people have signed the petition we will present to Downing Street today.
“Against this background of popular dissent, we believe it is right that the House of Lords should pass judgement by holding a vote at second reading and halting moves to legalise euthanasia in the UK. It is time to take a stand against this grossly misguided measure.”
Key opponents to the Bill also gathered on the day of the critical vote for a rally outside the Houses of Parliament, including the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, and the Bishop of Winchester, the Rt Rev Michael Scott-Joynt.Speaking to Christian Today at the rally, Bishop Scott-Joynt commended the churches for the “great deal” of work they had done to campaign against the Bill, adding that he was “entirely on board with” the work of the Roman Catholic Church in particular.
He criticised support for assisted dying saying: “Those who are in favour of the Bill would say they value life so much they don’t believe anybody should be forced to live it when it ceases to be life as they understand it but I don’t think that really follows.
“And I do think it’s a highly elitist position and a position that disregards the vast majority of people who will be made vulnerable by the Bill,” he added.
While he was sceptical the ‘unworkable’ Bill would actually become law, he urged campaigners to keep up the protest.“The trouble is that the more time that’s spent on it [the Bill], the more there is a kind of impression given that these are things to go on pursuing and keep thinking about, which is why I think there is everything to be said for trying to stop it today,” he said.
Bishop Scott-Joynt also warned that the Bill would “lead to further attempts at legislation to broaden it and all kinds of personal and legal difficulties”.
Dr Brian Iddon, MP for Bolton South East, also joined the protestors outside the Houses of Parliament, warning that any move to legalise assisted-suicide was a “slippery slope” that would open the doors to “full blown euthanasia” in Britain.
He also dismissed the YouGov survey that found 76 per cent of 1,770 respondents in favour of a change in the law to allow the terminally ill to die, saying that they were voting out of ignorance.
“When you go or I go to explain to those people what they’re really voting for they change,” said Dr Iddon.
