Crystal clear

I was surprised to see a letter from Glen Eden, West Auckland, published in my home province (Under The Radar, January 8). Perhaps, I thought, this was a particularly good letter that just had to be included?

Sadly it doesn’t stand up to any scrutiny.

The claim that the End of Life Choice Bill is somehow promoting youth suicide was dismissed after some debate in the Health Select Committee’s 2017 report on the subject: “The Ministry of Health told us that there does not appear be any connection between assisted dying or euthanasia and rates of suicide.”

Indeed, Belgium and the Netherlands, where assisted dying is legal, both have dramatically lower, and falling, youth suicide rates in comparison with New Zealand.

Meanwhile the writer claims that the Attorney-General has said that the Bill won’t remain

restricted to those under 18. Well, the wording of the Bill is crystal clear: “In this Act, person who is eligible for assisted dying means a person who is aged 18 years or over.”

If it were possible in New Zealand to just ignore such laws, I would have been down at the Duke of Marlborough a lot sooner than I was! DAVID SEYMOUR

ACT Leader