Leaders from over 60 churches across all Scottish Parliament constituencies signed a letter to Scottish Parliament members (MSPs) asking them to stop the bill on assisted dying.

‘The Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill’ is expected to be debated and voted on at ‘stage 1’ on Tuesday, 13 May. If it passes, it will progress to ‘stage 2’, where it can be amended. If it doesn’t pass, the bill won’t progress any further and won’t become law.

This draft law for Scotland describes terminally ill people as those who “have an advanced and progressive disease, illness or condition from which they are unable to recover and that can reasonably be expected to cause their premature death”.

Such a definition, say the church leaders, opens a “potential wide eligibility” which “does not include a prognostic timescale”.

Despite being addressed by the bill, the risk that patients are coerced into asking for assisted dying remains real because neither the text of the law nor a Policy Memorandum specify how doctors and nurses should assess potential coercion, these Christian leaders say. “Vulnerable patients may feel pressured by family members or caregivers, whether explicitly or implicitly, especially given the rising costs of care. Capacity assessments for assisted suicide are complex, and the individuals closest to the patient may be reluctant to carry them out due to the implications”.

The trends in countries with assisted dying

The Evangelical Alliance UK and church leaders in Scotland fear the legalisation of assisted dying will lead to an increase in people opting to end their life, as it has happened in countries like Belgium, Netherlands or Canada.

“International evidence reveals that initial safeguards in assisted dying laws are often weakened over time”, the letter signed by the church leaders reads. “Instead of facilitating death, the focus should be on improving palliative care to offer dignity to the dying”.

“Compassion involves sharing in the suffering of others and serving them, seeking to reduce suffering, not end the life of the sufferer. There are significant moral and ethical concerns surrounding the reduction of life to questions of utility or functionality”.

Pressure on people with disabilities

Those who oppose the law say they have listened to the concerns of disability organisations, which have voiced at the Scottish parliament during the process their fears that “assisted dying would be presented to people with disabilities as a viable alternative to support for living”. The letter of Christian leaders to the MSPs says: “What disabled people think about the bill should be reason alone for MSPs to vote against it”.

Palliative care

The EAUK also addresses the risks such a law would have for women suffering domestic abuse, conscientious objection, and the view of the professionals of palliative care services.

The signatories underline that the Association of Palliative Medicine found through polling that 95% of palliative care doctors would refuse to prescribe lethal medication to their patients if it was legal to do so and 40% would leave their jobs if assisted dying was introduced in their place of practice.

A “fundamental ethical shift” in Scotland

Putting all these reasons together, the churches in Scotland who have signed the letter asking to stop the law conclude that “it isn’t an exaggeration to say this would be one of the most important changes in legislation our country will ever see – a fundamental ethical shift”.

Chris Ringland, the public policy officer of the Evangelical Alliance Scotland, added: “The scale of concern about the bill from Christian leaders across Scotland is reflective of the concerns of wider civil society. This bill poses a huge danger to the most vulnerable across Scotland and we urge MSPs to vote against it”.