PARISHIONERS across Dumfries and Galloway are being urged to help reject ‘dangerous’ assisted suicide proposals.
A pastoral letter from the bishops of Scotland – which includes the newly appointed Bishop of Galloway, Frank Dougan – was read out at all masses in the region’s Catholic churches last Saturday and Sunday.
The letter was addressed to all of Scotland’s Catholics and asked them to urge their MSPs to reject the recently published assisted suicide proposals put forward by Liam McArthur MSP.
The Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill has been introduced to members of the Scottish Parliament, and is currently being scrutinised. It will allow terminally ill adults in Scotland, who are eligible, to lawfully request to be provided with assistance by health professionals to end their own life.
However, the bishops described the proposals as ‘dangerous’ and are calling on MSPs to focus their energies on improving palliative care -which they say is ‘underfunded and limited’.
They wrote: “When our society is already marked by so many inequalities, we do not need assisted suicide to put intolerable pressure on our most disadvantaged who do not have a voice in this debate.”
