Speaking in yesterday’s Senedd Debate on Assisted Dying, Clwyd West MS Darren Millar voted against a motion calling for the law around assisted dying in England and Wales to be changed, and emphasised the need for investment in end-of-life care to improve people’s experiences when terminally ill.
While the Senedd doesn't have the power to change the law, the motion called on the Welsh Government to both support the principle of assisted dying and support Westminster to "introduce a compassionate assisted dying law in England and Wales".
Speaking in the emotive debate, Darren said legalising assisted suicide would send a clear message that some lives are not worth living.
He also stressed that many disabled people are opposed to a change in the law in this area.
Emphasising that his views are informed and underpinned by his Christian faith and his conscience, Darren also stated “that legalising assisted suicide is fraught with dangers that no change in the law will ever be able to mitigate”.
He said:
“It's important to state this: the motion today, before us, goes far beyond the scope of the legislation that's currently being considered in the UK and Scottish Parliaments. There, proponents of a change in the law are seeking to restrict access to assisted suicide to those who are terminally ill, but here we are being asked to subscribe to the view that assisted suicide will be available to anyone of sound mind and settled will who is intolerably suffering, whether terminally ill or not. That phrase 'terminally ill' features nowhere in the motion before us today.
“Now, 'intolerable suffering' is a subjective term. Where it's been used in other nations, as we've already heard, assisted suicide is being granted for all sorts of conditions, even those such as tinnitus, anorexia, as we've already heard, bedsores and even blindness.
“It can also be very, very difficult to determine if someone is of a sound mind and has a settled will.
“The motion also suggests that assisted suicide has been linked to improvements in palliative care and has popular support. But those of us who attended the excellent briefing on palliative care by Baroness Ilora Finlay yesterday, and this whole subject was discussed, know that that's not necessarily the case, because in those places where palliative care has improved, it's not done so at the rate that it has in those nations where assisted suicide remains illegal.
“Legalising assisted suicide would send a clear message that some lives are not worth living, and I don't think that that's a message that any civilised society, frankly, should be promoting to any of its citizens, especially when there are many people across Wales right now who are enjoying a fulfilling life in spite of their terminal illness, or in spite of a debilitating condition.
“I think that is why so many disabled people are opposed to a change in the law in this area. We received a communication yesterday from a whole host and coalition of disability organisations. Not one of them supports a change in the law, and that is because all of them recognise the potential for people to perceive a burden, that they are someone who doesn't deserve to be alive. I think that that is something that we must make sure that we address.
He added:
“So, what is the answer? The answer, in short, is investment in palliative care, investment in end-of-life care. We know that Hospice UK have told us that they are facing a fundamental finance crisis at the moment. And together, I hope that one thing we can all agree on, even if we might not agree on this motion, is that we must do more to make sure that they get the funding they deserve.”
Watch Darren’s contribution in the Welsh Parliament below:
