George Pitcher, the religion editor of the Daily Telegraph, has an excellent article on why assisted suicide is wrong. Among other things, he says:"Fear leads us to consider that life can be treated as a consumer product, to be disposed of when it turns rotten, and to kid ourselves that there is 'dignity' in doing so ... The mistake is in thinking that our life is our own, to do with as we wish, when actually it is only defined in relationship to those around us. To commoditise life is to disown it and to deny others their duty of care."It is therefore disturbing to read in the Guardian that there are almost 800 British members of Dignitas, the Swiss suicide company, with 34 of them ready to travel to Zurich and take a lethal drug overdose.
We have seen how abortion and IVF are now regarded are public services, with a focus by government on waiting times, waiting lists, equitable provision in all regions, etc. Without a prohibition on assisted suicide, the culture of death will spread yet further from the unborn to the born. This is something which is already happening in various ways, of course, but it will acclerate if an amendment is passed to the Coroners and Justice bill next week - please see and act today upon SPUC's action alert.
