Archbishop Eamon Martin enters ‘assisted dying’ debate

The Primate of All Ireland has waded into the row in Britain over the ‘Assisted Dying Bill’, which is to be debated in Westminster next week.

Archbishop Eamon Martin has described what is proposed in the bill as a “destructive and pessimistic approach to human life and has written to MPs in the north asking them to oppose it.

The bill provides for a person who is terminally ill and has six months or less to live to seek and lawfully be provided with assistance to end their own life. A judge would have to be satisfied that the terminally ill person had a voluntary, clear, settled, and informed wish to end their life and the person would have to sign a declaration to that effect. The form would also have to be countersigned by two doctors.