The leading Catholic peer Lord Alton of Liverpool has warned of a “tsunami” if assisted dying and euthanasia are legalised.
Labour MP Kim Leadbeater is proposing a bill that would give terminally ill people in England and Wales the right to end their life, to be introduced to the House of Commons tomorrow.
Lord Alton, a crossbencher, has pointed to jurisdictions around the world where euthanasia and assisted dying have been legalised as a warning sign.
He told The Tablet: “Once you make euthanasia legal it will be like a tsunami. Our opponents’ Achilles’ heel is the evidence from jurisdictions like Canada of the failure of safeguards and of incrementalism.”
Lord Alton referenced Canada as a danger because euthanasia and assisted suicide were legalised in 2016 on condition that the death of applicants should be “reasonably foreseeable”.
In 2021, this condition was repealed. In February 2024, the Canadian parliament ruled that euthanasia and assisted suicide will be legalised on the grounds of mental health alone from March 2027.
Leadbeater insisted that safeguards will be implemented and said: “I’m really clear. This is about people who are terminally ill.” However, at least 54 cross-party MPs are already calling for the Bill to apply both to those who are “incurably suffering” as well as to those who are terminally ill.
Lord Alton rejected Leadbeater’s claims, saying: “Safeguards aren’t worth the paper on which they are written.” He added: “To die with dignity we don’t need doctors to kill us. We do need comprehensive palliative care and protection for the vulnerable.”
His comments come as Bishop of Shrewsbury Mark Davies and Bishop of Portsmouth Phillip Egan joined Cardinal Nichols in urging Catholics to lobby MPs and to resist assisted suicide and euthanasia.
In a pastoral letter read out at all Masses last weekend, Bishop Davies predicted dire consequences if Parliament chose the “dark and sinister path” of legalised assisted suicide.
“This is not the kind of society in which we would wish to grow old or become vulnerable,” Bishop Davies said. “If medical professionals, now sworn to protect the lives of patients, become those who assist in killing and suicide, how will our relationship change to those we look to for help and care? This is, indeed, a dark and sinister path on which we could be embarking.”
Bishop Egan referred to the possibility of legalised assisted suicide as “gravely immoral and a danger to our society”, adding: “Investing in palliative care is a better way to support people suffering at the end of life.” Both urged Catholics to contact MPs with their views.
Lord Alton urged those working in palliative care and hospices to “emphasise the loving alternatives to a lethal injection”.
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