Sturgeon: I’ll vote against suicide Bill

First Minister deals big blow to ‘right to die’ law

NICOLA Sturgeon has said she will vote against assisted suicide when the Bill to legalise it reaches parliament.

The First Minister insisted she believes the focus should be on improving palliative care to help people live longer and in greater comfort.

MSPs are expected to be given a free vote on the Assisted Suicide (Scotland) Bill, which is currently being debated by a Holyrood committee, but her rejection is a major blow.

It follows a second attempt started by the late Margo MacDonald MSP to introduce a ‘right to die’, after her f i rst was defeated 85 votes to 16.

She died last year after a long and brave battle with Parkinson’s disease.

In an interview with the Scottish Catholic Observer, Miss Sturgeon said: ‘I voted against it last time and I haven’t been convinced of assisted suicide this time either.

‘A major stumbling block is the issue of sufficient safeguards. I believe we should support people to live and am therefore in favour of good-quality palliative care.’

The Bill would see ‘facilitators’ collect a prescription from a GP and oversee it being taken. But opponents believe the legislation remains flawed.

Dr Gordon Macdonald, spokesman for anti-euthanasia alliance Care Not Killing, said: ‘This is a very welcome declaration from Scotland’s First Minister’s who rightly highlights the dangers of assisted suicide and correctly points out how difficult it would be to protect the most vulnerable, were the law to be changed.

‘As MSPs examine t hese proposals more closely, increasing numbers are coming to the conclusion that they are unworkable and ill-conceived.’

But a spokesman for campaign group My Life, My Death, My Choice said: ‘We respect the First Minister’s view on the proposed Assisted Suicide Bill.

‘As this is a free vote at Holyrood, it is important each MSP makes up their own mind based on the evidence available.

‘We believe the Bill, as it stands, provides sufficient safeguards to ensure vulnerable groups are protected.’

Last month, a leading MSP said plans to legalise suicide could see 80 terminally-ill people take their own lives each year.

However, Patrick Harvie, co- convener of the Scottish Greens, defended that figure insisting it was comparable with other countries.

He has assumed the role of attempting to get Miss MacDonald’s Bill passed by the Scottish parliament and denies the proposed legislation would devalue the life of a terminally-ill person.

He said: ‘Nothing could be further from the truth.

‘The principle of this Bill is to place that power [to end their life] in the hands of the people about whom those decisions are being made.’

But Dr Gordon Macdonald, of Care Not Killing, said: ‘This Bill is asking the Scottish Government to fund and train people who will become, in effect, statesponsored, licensed killers.

‘Clearly the committee has seen the inherent dangers the scheme poses.’

‘Should support people to live’