Sadly, I believe this Bill to be unsafe. As a curate and parish priest I spent time with the dying, the sick and the bereaved. I still do. All of us have personal experience. I have as well. We know that the sad truth is that not all people are perfect, not all families are happy, not everyone is kind and compassionate. No amount of safeguards can perfect the human heart, no amount of regulation can make a relative kinder or a doctor infallible. No amount of reassurance can make a vulnerable or disabled person feel equally safe, equally valued, if the law is changed in this way.
All of us here are united in wanting compassion and dignity for those coming to the end of their lives.
But it does not serve compassion if by granting the wishes of one closest to me, I expose others to danger.
And it does not serve dignity if in granting the wishes of one closest to me I devalue the status and safety of others.
No amount of reassurance can make a vulnerable or disabled person feel equally safe, or equally valued, by the changes that the Assisted Dying Bill seeks to make.https://t.co/Lnl7elrR7U
— Archbishop of Canterbury (@JustinWelby) October 22, 2021