David Vance SubstackRead More
It looks like the Government approved effort to pass the “Assisted Suicide Act” is about to fall. Tomorrow should see the Bill fail to complete its journey through Parliament and that will be the end of it.
Dame Esther Rantzen’s daughter Rebecca Wilcox said she is “furious” with the House of Lords, accusing it of blocking the assisted dying bill. Speaking at a demonstration in Parliament Square on Wednesday in support of a change in the law, Rebecca Wilcox said her terminally ill mother wished she could have attended.
As you will recall, this Bill, if passed, had proposed allowing adults in England and Wales with fewer than six months to live to apply for an assisted death, subject to the approval of two doctors and an “expert” panel.
Dame Ester has been a BIG advocate for this bill, having being diagnosed with “terminal cancer” in 2023. However although she may not know it, she is a perfect reason to reject it. Had this Bill been in place, she would have been allowed to kill herself. But it wasn’t and she still has life! That is because no doctor can be sure how much life you have in you. Yes, things may look bad but there is no CERTAINTY in the time you will die. As a Christian, I believe that God decides that. It’s arrogance and folly to delegate that to humans.
I DO understand how challenging it is for someone with a loved one who has an end of life condition to have to bear it. I get that and you have all my sympathy. However no man knows the hour when we are called home. We DO know that once this sort of legislation is passed, it is thin end of the wedge. Canada and the Netherlands proves this.
So I am pleased that Labour have failed on this occasion to push through their Bill but I am sure they will another go in the next Parliamentary session. In the meantime, Dame Ester has discovered that you don’t always get what you want, and that’s life!
