Margo MacDonald, the recently re-elected Lothian MSP, has vowed to renew plans to change Scottish law on euthanasia and assisted suicide.
Her announcement comes after her initial attempt to pass a bill in December last year failed. The End of Life Assistance Bill would have allowed people with a progressive degenerative condition to seek help from a doctor in ending their life.
Significantly, the Bill went to a free vote, meaning that MSPs did not have to vote according to party lines but were free to vote as they wished according to their individual conscience. Even so, the Bill failed to pass with MSPs voting 85-16 against it.
Ms MacDonald, who has Parkinson’s disease, sees her re-election as an opportunity to push through legislation that did not receive enough support during the last session of the Scottish Parliament. With many MSPs now newly elected, Ms MacDonald is hopeful that she can get the support she needs. She said: “With more than a third of the MSPs being new, and with this question being one of conscience and individual belief on the part of MSPs it may be that the balance in favour of assisted dying has changed.”
Moreover, she hopes others may be encouraged from her re-election not to be afraid to back assisted suicide and euthanasia for fear of losing public support. “Last time the Bill was debated near the end of the parliamentary session and some MSPs were wary of supporting it, but my election should reassure doubters that support for this measure does not militate against gaining public support in an election.”
Others have been more sceptical about the chances of a similar Bill being passed during the current parliamentary session. A spokesman for the Catholic Church, part of the Care Not Killing alliance, said: “The fact that the Scottish Parliament last year rejected the Assisted Suicide Bill was widely accepted as representing the settled will of the Scottish people and it’s difficult to imagine that public opinion could have shifted in such a short period of time. The vote showed Scottish public opinion is not in favour of euthanasia.”
Ms MacDonald has also been criticised by another member of the Care Not Killing alliance, Dr Peter Saunders, who said that she should concentrate her efforts on her other legislative plans which reflect more pressing issues, such as targeting loan sharks who lend money at excessive rates of interest.
Ms MacDonald’s intentions were announced in light of a recent public vote in Zurich, where people voted against a call to stop legalised assisted suicide and discarded an attempt to end ‘suicide tourism,’ where non-Swiss citizens travel to Zurich to end their lives.
Andrea Minichiello Williams, CEO of Christian Concern, said:
“The speed with which Margo MacDonald is planning to re-introduce a Bill that would allow for euthanasia and assisted suicide shows how determined some people are to change the law on this issue.
“The End of Life Assistance Bill was soundly defeated in the Scottish parliament just five months ago. Why re-introduce it so soon after the will of the Scottish people to protect life was made clear?”
Sources
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