Flickr/ Quinn Dombrowski. Some rights reserved.The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Selby, has argued along with various other religious dignatories that we should reject the proposal to legalise assisted suicide. However, their central objection concerning the pressurising of vulnerable people seems whimsical and arbitrary.
In a letter to the Observer dated 6th September 2015 with regard to the provisions of the assisted dying (No2) bill currently before the House of Commons, they write:
‘If passed, it will directly affect not only those who are terminally ill and who wish to end their lives…. It also has the potential to have a significant impact on other vulnerable individuals: those who belive that they have become burdens to family and carers and feel under pressure to “do the decent thing” and, tragically, those who might be pressured by others to seek a medically assisted death’.
