Two-thirds of Scots believe assisted suicide should be allowed

Description:

In a poll for The Sunday Times, 68% of Scots said the law should be changed in Scotland to allow doctors to help people with chronic illness who want to die to end their lives. Support was at 78% among people aged 35-44.

Margo MacDonald, an independent member of the Scottish parliament, will place her End of Life Choices (Scotland) Bill before the Scottish parliament next month. She said: "The longer the debate goes on and the more proof there is that the right to end your life is supported by a clear majority of voters, the more confident I am that the bill will become law. I know there are a good number of MSPs who agree with me but who haven't yet gone public because they have been affected by the campaign against the bill. However, I hope they will be influenced by the views of the voters, reflected in this poll, rather than by any outside lobby."

[Note: Some other recent stories related to this topic are in the Links: section below.]

[Note: There is a Notes section and a Coming Up section below.]

Links:

To read the full article click on one of these links, both of which go to the same destination. A short link is provided for the convenience of readers. Also, readers may search and browse past advisories on the web (see bottom.)

Coming Up:

  • A New Hampshire House committee plans to make its recommendation Tuesday on the bill to legalize assisted suicide for the terminally ill.

  • The Exit International tour continues this week to San Francisco and Anaheim, California

  • LifeNews says the second hour of debate for Bill C-384, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (right to die with dignity) is now scheduled for December 2.

Notes:

  • From the FATE website: Assisted Dying: A Good Death or a Choice Too Far? On 13 November 2009, a debate between Dr Libby Wilson, FATE and Wesley J Smith, at the Church of Scotland General Assembly Hall, Edinburgh. Wesley J Smith: An author and lawyer, Wesley is an attorney for the International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide and a special consultant for the Centre for Bioethics and Culture.

Source:

Allardyce, Jason, Mark Macaskill. "Two thirds of voters back assisted suicide". Times Online. November 8, 2009. <www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article6908055.ece>. Copyright 2009 Times Newspapers Ltd. News International Limited, 1 Virginia St, London E98 1XY.

Tags:

Tags (or keywords) briefly indicate some major topics of the report.

  • assisted suicide

  • poll

  • Margo MacDonald

  • Scotland

ID:

The EuthaNEWSia ID for this advisory is: enid200911093383.
Mailed: Monday, November 9, 2009 13:59:45 -0600
at Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

Etcetera:

EuthaNEWSia is a free Canadian news advisory service covering end-of-life issues such as right to die, assisted suicide, and euthanasia. EuthaNEWSia is produced by the Right to Die Society of Canada which works toward a good death for all, including open, regulated and equitable access to euthanasia and assisted suicide. The editor is Michael Dawson <editor@euthanewsia.ca>. 

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