Church of England Warns About Proposal To Legalize Assisted Suicide In UK

Lawmakers in the U.K. are set to revisit the contentious subject of assisted suicide after a member of Parliament introduced a bill to allow the practice for terminally ill people in England and Wales.

The measure is scheduled for debate in the House of Commons on Nov. 29, marking the second time it will be considered in nearly a decade.

In 2015, British lawmakers overwhelmingly rejected legislation to legalize assisted suicide — now punishable by up to 14 years in prison — and the head of the Church of England has spoken out against the latest effort.

"My concern is that once you can ask for assisted suicide, it soon becomes something that you feel that you ought to do. Permission slips into being duty," Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said.

Groups of demonstrators in favor of and against the new bill gathered outside Parliament when it was introduced on Wednesday.

Polling in recent years has consistently shown 60% to 75% of the British public supports such a law, according to the BBC.

The bill's sponsor, Kim Leadbeater of the governing Labour Party, said the shift in public opinion meant that the current law was outdated.

"For some people, palliative care is not going to ease their pain and suffering and they are asking for the choice to have an assisted death, and I think they should be given that choice," Leadbeater told Reuters.

Leadbeater has also said her bill will include "protections and safeguards" to prevent people with disabilities or mental illness from being pressured into ending their lives, according to the Associated Press.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who supported the 2015 bill, has said lawmakers won't have to vote along party lines on the pending legislation, AP said.

Assisted suicide — in which people use lethal drugs prescribed by a doctor — is legal in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and parts of the U.S, AP said.

The nonprofit group Compassion & Choices lists California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington and Washington, D.C., as the places where medical aid in dying is allowed in America.

Last month, Swiss authorities arrested the head of a nonprofit that promoted the use of a suffocation pod after a 64-year-old woman from the American Midwest used it to die by suicide near a forest cabin about 35 miles north of Zurich.

Florian Willet, president of The Last Resort, was jailed on suspicion of "inducing and aiding and abetting suicide," leading his group to suspend 371 applications to use the Sarco suicide capsule.

It's designed to let people seal themselves inside and press a button to self-administer nitrogen gas that knocks them unconscious before killing them.

The national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. can be reached by calling or texting 988. An online chat is also available at 988lifeline.org.