Assisted Dying: not as simple as pro-life or pro-choice – Neale Hanvey MP

The last time Tonia led this debate many MPs attended and we had plenty of time to make our points – not so this time. Unusually Westminster Hall was packed with MPs so speaking time was to be restricted to as little as one minute. As a result, I decided to reduce the numbers and write about the issue here instead.

Firstly, I’d like to thank the 423 constituents who signed the debated petition, which was an increase of 156 since we last debated the issue.

This shows the matter is raising in profile across the UK. However, assisted dying is a devolved matter with the debate in Scotland being championed in Scotland by the inimitable Margo MacDonald for many years.

Assisted dying is a deeply personal concern, and we will all have a unique take on it. Dying is something that I’ve dealt with multiple times in my professional career. As you’d expect each passing is as unique and different as the individual. Some were very peaceful, some were difficult and some of them were very distressing.

The matter is often reduced to positions of pro-life or pro-choice, but from whichever vantage point you approach the issue, it concerns the one thing none of us can avoid - our mortality. None of us can sidestep that final process.

The most harrowing case that I remember was a 19-year-old young man who was very pro-life, who did not want to succumb to his cancer. Although his lungs were full of disease, he pleaded with me to find a way for him to continue to live. He was helpless, and consequently I too felt utterly helpless.

My ethical and moral views on the issue are conflicted and I still wrestle with them because it’s not as simple as being pro-life or pro-choice.

The fundamental question is, can I trust the state to introduce assisted dying without error or extension of its boundaries beyond a clear unarguable case of a terminal condition?

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