Margo Macdonald’s current proposals on assisted suicide go by the hard-to-argue with name of the End of Life Assistance (Scotland) Bill. Who wouldn’t want to be assisted at the end of their life? I know nothing scares me more than the thought of non-existence, nothing that is except inescapable pain or the loss of function in my body or my mind. Some assistance would be appreciated, thanks society.
Of course, it’s an ambiguous name, and what it’s really about is assisting people to end their lives. No doubt the decision was taken to find a less controversial name than the Euthanasia (Scotland) Bill or the Assisted Suicide (Scotland) Bill.
This is an issue normally phrased as a challenging moral debate, with newspapers feeling obliged to locate quotes for and against, the latter normally from the Catholic Church or similar. Sometimes it’s the supporters who don’t get a look in. For instance, the Daily Mail recently ran a virulently negative piece which suggested such legislation would lead, UK-wide, to 1,000 deaths.
I don’t get it. It’s a pure freedom issue to me, I have nothing but respect for Margo’s decision to bring the legislation forward, and I agree with her that there needs to be a set of robust safeguards. Personally, I cannot imagine what it would be like to suffer interminable pain and to be denied the choice to end it. If you’re against it, religious readers, simply don’t do it. Don’t take part. It’s absolutely your freedom, should you find yourself in the situation the Bill is intended to cover, to suffer on as long as you wish.
There’s a theme here we see in other areas: people seeking to project their own individual moral preferences onto society and make universal laws accordingly. It’s like the debate over decriminalising gay sex in the 60s. Just because you don’t want to do it yourself, fine, but that’s no reason why you should be allowed to limit the freedom of others to do so. I also wonder whether any of the small number of vociferous opponents ever find themselves in the situation they’ve speculated about later in life, and if that new feeling of powerlessness occasionally changes their mind.
That Daily Mail article can be read completely differently. The figure seems high, but if they’re right about it, there are 1,000 people in this country suffering unbearably and being denied the final relief, people whose freedoms must not be denied in their time of extraordinary need. Some of those thousand people would decide to ask for help to end their life, others may decide otherwise. Whatever the numbers, the choice should be theirs, and Scotland would surely be a better place if Margo’s Bill passes.