Mags Gargan
Every human life is worthy of our “utmost care and protection to its natural end”
The Archbishop of Armagh has written to all the North’s Members of Parliament asking them to oppose the “destructive and pessimistic” Assisted Dying Bill to be debated in Westminster next week.
In the letter, seen by this paper, Archbishop Eamon Martin said that in opposing this Bill the politicians will be “making a clear statement that the future of humanity does not lie in a culture of death and the deliberate destruction of another, but in a culture of life and care for one another in which medicine and science are at the service of human dignity, not threats to our very existence”.
He said that every human life is equally valuable “whatever stage or state of that life” and worthy of our “utmost care and protection to its natural end”.
Vulnerable
Archbishop Eamon told the MPs that if the Bill is passed it will represent a “defeat for our noble capacity as human beings to respond to illness and adversity with dignity and hope” and a victory for “despondency and despair”. He also said it would radically change the “trust relationship between those who are ill and those who care for them, as the law will no longer offer a “guarantee that those who are most vulnerable in illness will be protected from intentional harm from those charged with their care”.
The archbishop appealed to those taking part in the debate to “oppose the passage of this Bill in favour of a more humane and ethically sound future for humanity”.
The Assisted Dying Bill, being introduced by Labour MP Robert Marris, will be debated in the House of Common on Friday, September 11.
