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Former Archbishop of Canterbury calls for Government to rethink 'right to die' for the ill law Former Archbishop of Canterbury calls for Government to rethink 'right to die' for the ill law
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Lord Carey, the ex-Archbishop of Canterbury, has called for Parliament to think again about whether terminally ill patients should be granted the right to choose when to die. Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, has called for Parliament to think again about whether terminally ill patients should be granted the right to choose when to die.
Lord Carey’s views run counter to the long-established position of the Church of England, which is opposed to any change in the law that would make assisted suicide or voluntary euthanasia legal.Lord Carey’s views run counter to the long-established position of the Church of England, which is opposed to any change in the law that would make assisted suicide or voluntary euthanasia legal.
His surprise intervention comes as peers prepare to debate a Bill presented by the former Labour Lord Chancellor, Charles Falconer, which would allow doctors to prescribe poison to terminally ill and mentally alert people who wish to kill themselves.His surprise intervention comes as peers prepare to debate a Bill presented by the former Labour Lord Chancellor, Charles Falconer, which would allow doctors to prescribe poison to terminally ill and mentally alert people who wish to kill themselves.
A previous attempt to change the law in 2006 was blocked. The President of the Supreme Court, Lord Neuberger, warned recently that unless Parliament grasps the nettle and decides whether to amend the law, the courts may do the job for them. So far, 110 peers have indicated that they want to speak in Friday’s debate on the Falconer Bill. Writing in the Daily Mail, Lord Carey said he was still implacably opposed to assisted suicide and euthanasia – but would support the assisted dying bill during its second reading next Friday.
The stand taken by the 78-year-old Lord Carey contrasts with a policy statement issued by the Church of England in 2009, which argued that one person’s right to die becomes someone else’s obligations to assist that person’s suicide. “An obligation on society and its agents to take life or to assist in the taking of life... would create a new and unwelcome role for society,” the statement added. He wrote: “Until recently, I would have fiercely opposed Lord Falconer’s Bill, following the traditional line of the Christian Church. I would have used the time-honoured argument that we should be devoting ourselves to care, not killing.  
Rowan Williams, who succeeded Lord Carey as Archbishop of Canterbury, warned in 2012 that legalising assisted suicide would be a “disaster” that would create a “major shift in the moral atmosphere”. “I would have paraded all the usual concerns about the risks of ‘slippery slopes’ and ‘state-sponsored euthanasia’. 
The current Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has not spoken publicly on the subject since his appointment, but his office said yesterday that his views are in line with Church policy. “But those arguments which persuaded me in the past… fail to address the fundamental question as to why we should force terminally ill patients to an unbearable point. It is the magnitude of suffering that has been preying on my mind as the discussion… has intensified.”
The President of the Supreme Court, Lord Neuberger, warned recently that unless Parliament decides whether to amend the law, the courts may do the job for them. So far, 110 peers have indicated that they want to speak in Friday’s debate on the Falconer Bill.