Scottish Catholic Observer

Independent MSP Margo MacDonald will launch today launch her second attempt to legalise assisted suicide in Scotland.

Ms MacDonald’s new proposals come in spite of the was comprehensive defeated of previous End of Life Assistance Bill in a free vote at Holyrood just over a year ago. The Catholic Church was instrumental in the successful campaign against her legislation.

Her first bill would have encouraged people who were suffering from a serious illness to seek a doctor’s help to take their own life.

Despite her previous failure, the Lothians MSP, who has Parkinson’s disease, claimed there was wide public support for her campaign.

“Since the defeat of my original proposal in December 2010 the volume of correspondence I have received on the matter, coupled with the continuing public interest, stimulated in part by some high-profile statements in favour of the general principle of assisted suicide, indicates to me a consistent level of support for individuals suffering a terminal illness or condition, for whom life becomes intolerable, to have the legal right to request help to end their life before nature decrees,” she said.

It is presently not illegal to attempt suicide in Scotland but helping someone take their own life could lead to prosecution for culpable homicide.

Prior to the defeat of Ms MacDonald’s last attempt to legalise assisted suicide, Cardinal O’Brien, Britian’s most senior Catholic clergyman, warned that it would inevitably lead to repeated attempts to change the law.

“Across the Parliaments of the United Kingdom determined attempts are being made to legalise euthanasia,” he warned in 2009.

“We can be sure that further attempts to legalise euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide will be made in our Parliaments. The threat of legally assisted suicide in Scotland is doubly concerning: not only would it endanger Scottish patients, but it would also lead to euthanasia tourism, as it is called, as already happens in Switzerland.”