Assisted Dying Bill [HL]

Lord Dodds of Duncairn Excerpts

2nd reading
Friday 22nd October 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Dodds of Duncairn (DUP)]

My Lords, there have been many eloquent speeches so far in this debate, and thoughtful and erudite contributions. In that context, I warmly welcome the maiden speech of the noble Baroness, Lady Davidson, and wish her well in this House for the future.

Speakers have been motivated on all sides by a desire to look very closely at what can be done to help people in the most extremely difficult and painful circumstances. It is right that Parliament—we—should have the final say in these matters, not the courts and certainly not the media. We need to be very careful, as evidenced by the balance of arguments in this House, before proceeding down the route to overturn what I believe has been a red line on legalising the actions of a person in helping another to die. While fully respecting and understanding the motivations of the noble Baroness, Lady Meacher, in bringing this Bill before your Lordships’ House, I believe it crosses a fundamental line of principle regarding the approach of the health profession, never mind wider society’s approach, to the sanctity and value of life—every single life.

This has been described as a modest Bill, but I am afraid cannot agree. This is a Bill which, if passed into law, would be marked in years to come as the beginning, the foundation, of successfully more liberal Bills widening and extending the circumstances where life can be ended. There would be calls in time for the time limit of six months to be extended. There would be growing pressures to extend its provisions to other conditions, not just terminal illness. There would be increasing pressure to promote what will be demanded as individual choice and to override, reduce and diminish any safeguards. The much more liberal regimes in other countries will be cited in evidence that we “lagging behind”. The safeguards that have been prayed in aid in support of the Bill—already inadequate in my view—will inevitably over time be less rigorously enforced. We have seen that with other clinical and medical safeguards introduced in other areas such as abortion.

So this is the beginning of a dangerous, slippery slope. We have been invited to ignore and set aside the judicial expansionism witnessed in Canada, but does anyone seriously believe that we would not see repeated legal challenges here, based on the same kinds of considerations of human rights and equality? Of course there would be such challenges.

As parliamentarians, it is our duty to consider the wider interests of society as a whole, particularly the impact on more vulnerable people. Laws we pass cannot make people who are bad of better character. Such people will unfortunately exploit the opportunities to benefit from the weakness of fellow human beings. It is the nature, sadly, of fallen humanity and it would promote the view that some lives, if not perceived to be happy and healthy according to the norms of society at any given point, are less deserving, worthy or valuable.

In closing, I pay tribute to the fantastic work of the hospice movement, particularly in my own city of Belfast, and to the staff in many care homes who have looked after so many vulnerable people who have died in their care. I cannot support the Bill. We must do more to put resources and help into helping those in the palliative care system.