Posted on 12/04/2008 3:55:16 PM PST by wagglebee
London, England (LifeNews.com) -- A new piece of legislation, the Coroners and Justice Bill, which British Parliament officials announced at the start of the parliamentary year, will deal with assisted suicide. The measure, would reportedly modernize the law "to increase public understanding."
What that means, however, is another question.
The bill could make it more clear when people would be charged under the law for aiding in an assisted suicide, as in the case of Debbie Purdy.
In October, the British High Court ruled against Purdy, a disabled woman who wants to travel to Switzerland to kill herself at a euthanasia center and doesn't want her family charged when they return.
Purdy filed a lawsuit against officials in England to make them reveal when they will charge someone.
British law calls for 14 years in prison for assisting a suicide, although none of the relatives or friends of the people who have killed themselves in western Europe have been brought to trial for violating the law by taking their loved ones to the centers.
Purdy worried she could be the first.
The measure could also pave the way for England to overturn the law and join other western European nations in allowing assisted suicide.
In May 2006, the British House of Lords voted 148-100 against a bill that would have legalized assisted suicide in England, but euthanasia proponents have been angling for another chance.
John Smeaton, the director of the pro-life group Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, explained some of the concerns on Thursday.
"We are concerned that radical, so-called right-to-die MPs or peers - urged on by media coverage for assertions that some elderly people have a so-called duty to die - might seek to use the bill to weaken the legal protection of the right to life," Smeaton says.
"SPUC is calling on the government to give an assurance that its plans are limited to its stated aims of preventing the online promotion of suicide and suicide methods," he added.
"We are therefore also calling upon the government and parliamentarians to block any attempts to use the Coroners and Justice bill to weaken in any way the Suicide Act 1961 and the existing legal prohibition on assisted suicide," Smeaton concluded.
Related web sites:
SPUC - http://www.spuc.org
That is EXACTLY what they will do.
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Note to OAPs: better git while ya can.
If someone wants their suicide assisted it should be ok to do so, this is unlike abortion where the one being aborted has no say in the outcome. Doesn’t a person have an unalieable right in their own body as their personal property?
When human life is treated as inherently worthless, anything will go. It’s true all over the world and throughout history. Nothing ever changes.
My sister in law lives in Dr. Kervorkian’s neighborhood.
Some time back she said, as Kervorkian was going to jail, that: “Everyone thinks that what he’s doing is wrong, but no one wants to see him punished.”
I notice you're new here and maybe you are misinformed or in the wrong place, but Free Republic is a PRO-LIFE forum.
However, I do think your name might be fitting.
Frightening.
RIght to die will quickly turn from “option” into “mandatory” - you are exactly right.
Looks as though Hitler won the war after all.
Go ahead off yourself any time. Guns, gas, poisons, bridges, cliffs, ropes - all available. Heck, one idiot in England cleverly arranged an electric chainsaw to do the job.
Why are you waiting?
PS - Doctors and governments should not be in the “killing old and sick people” department.
I suppose I just don’t want the government in my business, be it recording my firearms or interfering with any private arrangements I’ve made.
Trolls aren’t interested in offing themselves. They fight for the right to off others.
Michael Schiavo wasn’t fighting for the right to kill himself. I don’t know of anyone who would have opposed him if he had.
Massachusetts Department of Social Services wasn’t fighting to end its own existence. They were fighting to end Haleigh Poutre’s existence. Have you seen a recent video of her? Check this out! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGHypHv7HBw
Our latest troll is no different from any of the others. Troll is fighting for the right to off others.
What you consider “private arrangements” with your firearms regarding the end of someone else’s life just might be illegal.
I notice you didn’t answer my question. And yes I’m strongly PRO-LIFE, but I also believe in LIMITED GOVERNMENT, so I don’t want uncle sam in my private affairs or involved in my private property. I am not a single issue voter. Thanks for making a fellow lifelong conservative feel so welcome for voicing an opinion.
Like most liberaltarians you don't understand the difference between limited government and no government. The Founding Fathers explicitely explained the role of government in the Constitution and they said that it's purpose was to "secure the blessings of liberty" and chief among these is LIFE. If government will not even protect life, we have nothing more than anarchy.
Thanks for making a fellow lifelong conservative feel so welcome for voicing an opinion.
Libertarians frequently believe that they are conservatives; however, they are not, though they often share SOME conservative views (though generally for different reasons).
Despite what you and other libertarians think, not everything is about guns and taxes.
Do you think others should have the same rights you claim for yourself? Did you stand up for Terri Schiavo's rights, or did you agree with the government imposed death sentence?
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