JOHN SMEATON, DIRECTOR OF SPUC: Lord Falconer attacks right to life for elderly and disabled people

Wednesday 15 May 2013

Lord Falconer attacks right to life for elderly and disabled people

A new onslaught on disabled and vulnerable people has been launched today with the introduction by Lord Falconer of a bill in the House of Lords to legalise assisted dying.

Lord Falconer's bill is expected to be targeted at the lonely and disabled elderly. Previous attempts to undermine the right to life of elderly and disabled people have met with strong opposition in the House of Lords, but the increasing costs of looking after frail elderly people may be leading euthanasia supporters to think that the government will eventually lend support to such a measure.

Commenting on news of the proposal, Paul Tully, SPUC Pro-Life’s general secretary, told the media today:

“Earlier this week, we saw ‘Martin,’ Paul Lamb and Jane Nicklinson renew the legal attacks on the right to life through the courts. This means that disabled people and elderly people are in the firing-line from several directions at once. Present financial difficulties in providing the necessary health and social care will be leveraged by euthanasia supporters to aid their cause. Any down-grading of legal protection for vulnerable lives should be resisted.

We are also seeing disturbing abuses of palliative care, through incentivised pathways for example, which are being used to hasten or bring about death in many cases. The pressure is on health trusts to put budgets before good care. This situation is being exploited by those who think that people with limited lives or serious disabilities should be helped to die.

We will be collaborating with disability rights groups, health professionals and pro-life politicians to resist Lord Falconer’s proposals with all our strength."

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About Me

I became involved in SPUC after graduating, when I established a branch in south London in 1974. I have worked full-time for SPUC for 42 years. I became chief executive of SPUC in the UK in 1996, having been general secretary since 1978. I was elected vice-president of International Right to Life Federation in 2005. At UN conferences in Cairo, Copenhagen, Beijing, Istanbul and Rome, I helped coordinate more than 150 pro-life/pro-family groups resulting in pro-life victories in Cairo, Istanbul and Rome. I was educated at Salesian College, London, before going to Oxford where I graduated in English Language and Literature. I qualified as a teacher, becoming head of English at a secondary school. I am married to Josephine. We have a grown-up family and we live in north London.