Today, Wednesday 2nd April, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, who is the most senior Roman Catholic in England and Wales, has told his congregations to lobby their local MPs against the current Assisted Dying Bill. No surprise there, but the reason he gives is distinctly disingenuous. He says Parliament has not given this important measure sufficient debating time. Really ? It’s been debated continuously for three months in the Committee set up for the purpose. Most of the Committee’s time has been spent on amendments proposed by the Bill’s opponents and many of the amendments were simply proposed for the purposes of delay.
Meanwhile, the wider debate on Assisted Dying has been losing ground in Portugal and has virtually come to an end in France.
Most worrying of all is the situation in the USA. Montana is facing legislation to criminalise doctors who provide Medical Assistance in Dying, New Hampshire has voted to prevent a debate on the issue and New Jersey is facing legislation to roll back such rights as do exist at the moment.
Incidentally, this website received 6,600 hits in March. In March 2024, the figure was 4,000. All of the increase came from America. 6,600 hits is not a large number (though it needs to be considered against the total annual capacity of 700 for visitor assisted deaths in Switzerland) but the growth in such traffic must represent an element of anxiety amongst many US citizens that wasn’t present last year.
