Catholic Medical Quarterly Volume 74(3) Aug 2024
Editorial
The new government, abortion and euthanasia
Dr Adrian Treloar
Landslide
elections are not common but we did have one last month. The enormous
Labour majority brings great hope to many. It is clear that huge
resentment and anger meant that the Conservatives were thoroughly voted
out. Parties during the pandemic, poor economic management and betting on
the outcome of the election, alongside a disastrous trip to Normandy for
the D-day celebrations all contributed to the outcome. Underneath all that
the Labour manifesto did not mention abortion or euthanasia. Labour MPs
have, in the past, been selected for their pro abortion views and we
should expect that the parliament will be hugely pro abortion and pro
assisted suicide. Perhaps the most pro death parliament ever.
In the face of that, we should do all we can to stop the legalisation of killing innocent and vulnerable people. When I met our local MP I was pushing my wife in her wheelchair. She is very disabled indeed and I have repeatedly had to argue for her to preserve her life and obtain the best care. Our local MP told me about a relative who had chosen assisted dying in Canada as she did not want to be a burden.
Our Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has not only voted in favour of making assisted suicide legal in the past, but also stated his continued support for it and has stated that he will make Parliamentary time for a vote if he becomes primeminister. The landslide will only make the task of opposing new legislation harder.
Since winning the election the new Minister of Health has stated that “the NHS is broken”. From which we deduce that legalising Assisted Suicide would empower a broken NHS to kill its most vulnerable patients.
Euthanasia has been an issue in the CMQ for fully 100 years [1]. We now have face the most pro-euthanasia Parliament ever. That is very grave news for the disabled, the elderly, the vulnerable and the unborn. We have much to fear.
References
Treloar Adrian, (2024)100 years of Euthanasia in the CMQ. Catholic Medical Quarterly Vol 74(3) August. Pp 14-15