The Republic of Ireland just had an election; its legislature is already considering assisted suicide; the Irish bishops are raising their voices in alarm and no one seems to be listening. It all seems very familiar – repeating the process that has occurred over the Irish Sea in the UK mainland.
Earlier this year in July, the UK held a general election that saw the Labour Party sweep into power. Labour MP Kim Leadbeater then proposed her Primate Member’s Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill to make assisted suicide legal for the first time in England and Wales. The Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales (CBCEW) made an impassioned move to oppose the Bill. But a vote by the UK Parliament on November 29 approved the Bill at its Second Reading by a vote of 330 in favour to 275 against, a massive step toward legalising assisted suicide in England and Wales.
