Catholic bishops in England have decried a vote for assisted suicide, with one saying it represented a “dark day” in the history of the country.
Members of Parliament voted by 330 to 275 for the “Terminally Ill (End of Life) Bill,” which will permit doctor-assisted deaths for adult patients deemed to have less than six months to live.
Although the bill must pass through several stages in both Houses of Parliament in London, the 29 November vote in the House of Commons means that it is extremely likely that the bill will pass into law. Afterward, Bishop Philip Egan of Portsmouth told OSV News that he expected the outcome.
“It leaves me sad as it will put an intolerable pressure on the elderly and the terminally ill and undermine the trust normally placed in doctors and carers,” he said.
“I fear too the ever-growing expansion of eligibility to other categories of people. Britain has now crossed a line: things will not be the same again. May God help us,” Bishop Egan lamented.
Auxiliary Bishop John Sherrington of Westminster, lead bishop for life issues of the bishops’ conference of England and Wales, issued a press statement on behalf of all of the bishops in which he described the bill as “flawed in principle.”
The bishops said: “We ask the Catholic community to pray that members of parliament will have the wisdom to reject this bill at a later stage in its progress.”
Responding to the vote, Andrea Williams, chief executive of Christian Concern, British advocacy group, said the vote represented “a very Black Friday for the vulnerable in this country.”
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