A report published by the Observer today has highlighted concealed religious influence on the assisted dying debate in England and Wales. Humanists UK has responded by calling for openness and honesty to be the guiding values of the assisted dying debate.
Kim Leadbeater MP’s ‘Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill’ will have its second reading on 29 November. It will be a free vote for MPs to vote according to their consciences.
The majority of people in the UK support assisted dying, including religious people. An MRP Poll by Electoral Calculus showed that 65% of Christians support a change in the law on assisted dying, compared to only 10% against. In spite of the strong support for assisted dying from many religious people, some religious organisations have been campaigning against a change in the law.
Using disability groups as a front for unstated religious views
In a video by the Christian Medical Fellowship titled: ‘Licensed to Kill? // 25 years of successful resistance’ the speaker boasts that for a disability rally against assisted dying, Christian Concern ‘provided the financial support, made the placards, came along, got the disabled people along and were completely invisible in doing it.’
Religious funding
The All-Party Parliamentary Group for Dying Well, the cross-party parliamentary group that lobbies against assisted dying, has received over £20,000 from Christian lobby groups, including £15,000 from a church of evangelicals based in the island of Jersey.
Since public reporting has been available from 2021, the group has received £46,300 from three sources: Care Not Killing, Christian Action, Research and Education, and Jersey Evangelicals. Christian Action, Research and Education also covered the group’s website costs, which were valued at between £4,501 to £6,000.
It is not clear where Care Not Killing gets its funding from. But the Catholic Union of Great Britain, Christian Action, Research and Education, Christian Medical Fellowship (CMF), Evangelical Alliance, Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC), and many other religious groups are members of Care Not Killing.
There is no such group named ‘Jersey Evangelicals’. The Jersey Evangelical Alliance is a registered charity. The total expenditure last year registered with the Jersey Charity Commission was £8,531.40. If this includes the £7,500 donation to the APPG, this means that the charity spent 87% of its income in one year supporting a group in a different jurisdiction.
In April 2021 the APPG for Dying Well launched a crowdfunding appeal on the site Democracy 3.0, founded by anti-abortion campaigner Andrew Hawkins. The crowdfunder was deleted, but the last capture of the webpage on 6 October 2022 showed a total donation of £16,660. This amount does not seem to have been declared. Despite APPG rules that state they must provide details of funding received over £1,500 in each calendar year.
In 2019, Dignity in Dying published a report exposing the anti-choice networks preventing changes in the law. These networks often include anti-LGBT+ groups and groups that oppose reproductive rights.
Andrew Copson, Chief Executive of Humanists UK, said:
‘Parliamentarians making decisions in the days and months ahead need to know the honest motivations of the groups and individuals placing evidence and argument before them. We have always been clear that our values of choice, compassion, dignity, and care for the autonomy of the vulnerable are what motivate our own decades of policy work in this field.
‘Openness and honesty should be the guiding values of everyone bringing their perspectives to the table and it is worrying that the concealed agendas of some others may mislead MPs and undermine the deliberative democratic process.’
Notes
For further comment or information, media should contact Nathan Stilwell at nathan@humanists.uk or phone 07456200033.
If you have been affected by the current assisted dying legislation, and want to use your story to support a change in the law, please email campaigns@humanists.uk.
Media can use the following press images and videos, as long as they are attributed to ‘Humanists UK’.
Humanists defend the right of each individual to live by their own personal values, and the freedom to make decisions about their own life so long as this does not result in harm to others. Humanists do not share the attitudes to death and dying held by some religious believers, in particular that the manner and time of death are for a deity to decide, and that interference in the course of nature is unacceptable. We firmly uphold the right to life but we recognise that this right carries with it the right of each individual to make their own judgement about whether their life should be prolonged in the face of pointless suffering.
We recognise that any assisted dying law must contain strong safeguards, but the international evidence from countries where assisted dying is legal shows that safeguards can be effective. We also believe that the choice of assisted dying should not be considered an alternative to palliative care, but should be offered together as in many other countries.
Read six reasons we need an assisted dying law.
Read more about our analysis of the assisted dying inquiry.
Read more about our campaign to legalise assisted dying in the UK.
Humanists UK is the national charity working on behalf of non-religious people. Powered by over 120,000 members and supporters, we advance free thinking and promote humanism to create a tolerant society where rational thinking and kindness prevail. We provide ceremonies, pastoral care, education, and support services benefitting over a million people every year and our campaigns advance humanist thinking on ethical issues, human rights, and equal treatment for all.