A Post Euthanasia World
Timothy Mayer writes on the new world we have entered since the assisted suicide bill passed in the House of Commons.
“The vote in the House of Commons in favour of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill is a watershed moment in the history of our country. It fundamentally changes society’s long held values and relationships on matters of life and death.”[1]
These are the striking words of issued by Cardinal Vincent Nichols following the bill, to legalise assisting suicide, passing in the Commons by just 23 votes.
The government is now well on its way to gaining the power to end the lives of the old and infirm. Kim Leadbeater sits in anticipation as her Private Members' Bill (PMB) advances to the House of Lords. In reality, this is effectively a government bill in all but name, benefiting from the procedural shortcuts available to PMBs and, thanks to Starmer’s support, lacking many of the usual safeguards and drawbacks. While the House of Lords could potentially block the bill[2] - and arguably should - the likelihood is that it will pass, and Kim’s dream will become a reality: a dream to kill the terminally ill, vulnerable people who will be told society is better off without them. Soon we shall see it become the norm for doctors to leave the room of their patients, to wait and see whether they’ll decide to kill themselves or not with the state funded suicide pill they just placed into their hand.[3]
This vote in the Commons is much to the pleasure of the poor overburdened health workers whose older patients get cruelly referred to as ‘bed blockers’ – a cruel and dehumanising term. Equally troubling is the glee of the euthanasia industry, which stands to profit from a new market for assisted death sweeping across the UK, with stacks of cash soon to line their pockets. Sadly, there are also heartless relatives who value their inheritance more than the well-being of their loved ones. Formerly trusted doctors, once guided by the Hippocratic Oath, will instead replace its principles with an invitation to their patients - asking whether they have considered killing themselves, and suggesting, that if they haven’t, they should. This will mark a disturbing shift to viewing vulnerable individuals as commodities rather than people worth protecting.
Fear will weigh heavily on those who find themselves within the so-called “death bracket,” as the mounting pressure to accept this easy, seemingly harmless option - concealed within a small, Tic Tac-like pill—will only intensify. As euthanasia becomes normalized and their conditions are increasingly viewed as burdens on those around them, the temptation to choose death will intensify, overshadowing their perception of their own worth and the intrinsic value of their lives.
Kim Leadbeater may be passionately in support of the terminally ill with six months left to live who want to kill themselves, but evidently, in all her campaigning, she has never paused to consider about how much worse she will make it for those who don’t.
The outlook in the UK appears bleak - for those at the beginning of life and those nearing its end The march toward what Pope Saint John Paul II warned as a “culture of death” is unfolding before our eyes. The recent last-minute amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill exemplifies this troubling trend: we are expected to comfort a mother grieving a miscarriage while simultaneously celebrating a woman’s right to disembody her own child moments before their birth.
The façade of the Christian culture, which has historically underpinned Britain’s moral and intellectual foundation, is crumbling to reveal a growing neo-pagan orthodoxy raging underneath.
When there is no standard for what is right or wrong, the path of least resistance inevitably prevails, and those in power will dictate the moral direction. The recent Casey report exemplifies this, showing that convenience was prioritized over justice—despite the horrific crimes committed. Additionally, the banning of silent prayer, exemplified by the prosecution of Adam Smith-Connor, highlights how the powerful are willing to deploy vast resources to suppress the truth. Even in this case the council has been so desperate to prosecute silent thoughts that they have spent over £100,000 of public funds for a charge with a maximum penalty of £1,000 - despite the council being on the brink of bankruptcy.[4]
Although these cases - and many others - may paint a bleak picture, with every anti-religious orthodoxy and ideology seeming to triumph over Christian values, we must remember the hope that Chesterton reminds us of in such periods: “Christianity has died many times and risen again; for it had a God who knew the way out of the grave.” [5]
We should hold fast to the conviction that, if we stand for the truth, we have nothing to hide and nothing to fear. This allows us to confront the facts around us honestly, trusting that the truth will ultimately reveal itself. In fact, the more openly we seek the truth, the more evident the hypocrisy becomes - so glaring that it’s astonishing how many continue to turn a blind eye and refuse to see what is plainly before them.
Here is one such truth: during the peak of COVID-19 deaths, the virus was responsible for approximately 1% of all deaths in that year. This figure - whose numbers we now know were inflated for various reasons - was used to justify the entire national lockdown, the shutdown of the economy, and the cessation of nearly all social interactions. These measures caused widespread destruction to every aspect of our lives - both outside the home and within our wallets. The handouts fed by excessive quantitative easing undercut working and middle class wages while individuals suffered loneliness, isolation and the breakup of their communities. In this time, we saw one of the largest wealth transfers, to the richest, in living memory as everyone learnt how to shop online on amazon, while local businesses and land got bought up by equity groups. Only further consolidating wealth and power into a small elite.
Why did all this happen? It was in ostensibly to protect the old and vulnerable. But now, with Kim Leadbeater's Private Members' Bill (PMB) advancing, a chilling reality emerges: the same vulnerable population in this case is at risk, this time with a devastating twist - the legislation will instead directly kill the very same group it claims to protect, in staggering numbers.
This time, we are not locking the country down. Instead, we are inviting in what will cause a significantly larger number of deaths to the same group of people. If we base our projections off Canada, where euthanasia accounts for over 4% of their deaths (sharply increasing every year). Then the number of deaths this bill will cause will be four times higher than those caused by our COVID peak. Closer to home, if we project our anticipated death toll to the Netherlands, the number of deaths would be over five times the previous threshold that justified a global lockdown.
This reveals a vital truth we must understand moving forward: the enemy can hijack seemingly good things for evil purposes. We even see this in the Gospels where the devil tries to tempt Jesus to sin through quoting scripture. A reminder that individually good things can be twisted and used for evil ends. Good becomes evil is when it is elevated into an idol, regarded as the highest good in itself. During COVID, the highest good was perceived as safety and protecting the vulnerable - regardless of the cost. Similarly, with euthanasia, it is the deification of the will that replaces the intrinsic value of human life, leading to a form of utilitarian eugenics. Strikingly these two contradictory positions - separated by only a few years – are being championed by the same voices, illustrating how easily good intentions can be manipulated when they fail to be truly grounded in the good.
We locked down for the old, ill and vulnerable and now we are legalising something which will kill that very same group. Like lockdown, a lot of money will be made, but this time many more will die. Now the country wants to legalise euthanasia, and the justification is that it will save these people from themselves, because it will let them kill themselves. This is insane.
Let us remain vigilant and steadfast in the truth. We must not bow to the destructive madness that increasingly dominates our public life, but instead stand firm on what is right and just.
By Timothy Mayer