United Kingdom: London, protests in front of Westminster against assisted dying. Today, a debate on euthanasia at the House of Commons

“Assisted dying is not the answer!”. This is the phrase that is being shown today on dozens of posters in front of Westminster Parliament by members of “Christian Concern”, “Care Not Killing” and “Not Dead Yet”, the most important British prolife associations. They are protesting, because this afternoon the MPs of the House of Commons will discuss a motion, proposing medical assistance for terminally-ill people of sound mind who want to die. These are just words, because right now there is no bill advocating assisted suicide, and the law punishes by imprisonment those who help terminally-ill people die this way. It was Esther Rantzen, 83 years old, a famous TV presenter affected by lung cancer, who collected the over 200,000 signatures required to start the debate. She claims that her relatives risk imprisonment if they take her, as they intend to do, to the “Dignitas” clinic in Zurich where she intends to die. There has been a clear shift, in British public opinion, towards assisted suicide. The “British Medical Association”, which has always been against euthanasia, now has a neutral position on the matter, because 50% of its members ask the law to be amended. According to the weekly “Economist”, two thirds of British people now seem to support the legalisation of assisted dying.
Valentina Bombelli