Motion

Motion TitleOpposition to Legalisation of Assisted Suicide

Motion TextThat this Assembly recognises the need to compassionately support families tragically affected by terminal illness; opposes the legalisation of assisted suicide in Northern Ireland; believes such a law could lead to terminally ill patients and other vulnerable citizens wrongly perceiving themselves as a burden to their families and wider society; expresses deep alarm at the situation in Canada, where safeguards underpinning the country’s Medical Assistance in Dying laws are being rapidly eroded with the removal of the requirement that a person’s natural death be foreseeable and the planned expansion of eligibility to include grounds of mental illness alone from 2027; further notes that provision for assisted suicide would fundamentally and negatively change the relationship between doctors and patients; highlights widespread opposition to assisted suicide among medical professionals throughout the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, including those working in palliative, geriatric and primary care; notes research indicating that in countries where assisted suicide is made legal, suicide rates increase among the general population; is resolutely committed to supporting policies that reduce vulnerability rather than increase it; acknowledges that patients and clinicians already have a legal right to refuse or withdraw life-prolonging treatment, including where that treatment would lead to further distress and pain for patients with irreversible and worsening conditions; further believes that our National Health Service should be in the business of sustaining, not ending, life; and calls on the Minister of Health to bring forward plans to deliver enhanced, high-quality and compassionate palliative care provision for families affected by terminal diagnoses.

Motion CategoryPrivate Members' Motion

Date Tabled to Business Office19/11/2024