By Peter Pinedo

Scotland’s Catholic bishops have issued a strong condemnation of the country’s Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults bill, saying in a statement to the government that it “provides a quick, cheap alternative” to care and risks coercing the vulnerable and elderly into feeling a “duty to die.”

Along with the rest of the United Kingdom, assisted suicide is currently illegal in Scotland. However, if passed the bill would allow terminally ill adults over 16 to be provided with assistance in ending their own lives.

The bill was introduced in March by Scottish Parliament member Liam McArthur, who has voiced that this would allow greater “autonomy, dignity, and control” over patients’ end of life and “help to make Scotland a more compassionate society.”

Assisted suicide is the act of making the means of suicide available to the patient, who subsequently acts on his or her own. In many cases, a doctor or other authorized health care professional will be authorized to prescribe the patient a lethal dose of medication, which the patient administers to himself or herself.

The Catholic Church opposes assisted suicide because it is “gravely contrary to the just love of self” and “contrary to love for the living God.”

In their statement to the government, Scotland’s 10 Catholic bishops voiced grave concerns with the bill, saying it erodes human dignity and undermines efforts to reduce suicide and give terminally ill patients true palliative — pain relieving — care.

The measure stipulates that a patient would need to receive the assessment of two doctors who both agree he or she is mentally fit and is acting free of coercion. The bishops, however, said assisted suicide presents an inherent risk of coercing vulnerable people.

They pointed to a recent study in the state of Oregon that found that more than 40% of people who obtained assisted-suicide drugs listed the burden on their family, friends, and caregivers as a reason for seeking to take their life.

“This suggests that society is failing those most in need of help and support, resulting in vulnerable people, including the elderly and disabled, feeling pressure to end their lives to lessen the impact on family, friends, carers, and the state,” the bishops said. “In such situations the option of assisted suicide becomes less about having a ‘right’ to die and more about feeling the full weight and expectation of a ‘duty’ to die.”

“The proposal, to be blunt, provides a quick, cheap alternative to good palliative care,” the bishops wrote. “This is supported by claims in Mr. McArthur’s proposal for a bill, which chillingly conceded that it is cheaper to end life than to provide care. The focus must be on providing care, not providing a cheap death.”

The bishops also expressed their concern that the legalization of assisted suicide for certain groups would inevitably open the door to further expansion for more individuals and groups.

The bishops asserted that “no one should be eligible for assisted dying.”

“No matter how well-intentioned the safeguards are, it is impossible for any government to draft assisted-suicide laws which include legal protection from future expansion of those laws,” they said. “Once a law permitting assisted suicide and/or euthanasia is established, so-called safeguards will be eroded and eligibility criteria expanded to create a system of death on demand and death by prescription, facilitated by the state.”

“As evidenced in other jurisdictions, it is a runaway train,” they added.

There are currently 11 U.S. states that allow assisted suicide and there are several more considering passing bills to legalize the practice.

This story was first published by Catholic News Agency, EWTN Norway’s news partner.