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Sunday, 5th September 2010You are in: Home > News > Scotland’s largest secular organisation supports MSP ‘right to die’ law change
Scotland’s largest secular organisation supports MSP ‘right to die’ law change
Scotland’s largest secular body, the Humanist Society of Scotland (HSS) has given its support to Margo MacDonald’s End of Life Assistance Bill which has been published this week.
Convenor of the Humanist Society of Scotland (HSS), Bob McKay said:
"The society's historic stance has been to support the right of individuals to make their own end of life choices and for them to die with dignity whilst being provided with the appropriate palliative care.
"Margo MacDonald’s bill is a welcome way forward in framing this belief in Scottish Law.”
Two thirds of scots agree ‘law should be changed in Scotland to support assisted suicides’.
The Humanist Society of Scotland’s support comes amidst a recent poll indicating that two thirds of those questioned agreed that the law should be changed in Scotland in Scotland to support assisted suicides.
“The poll conducted by Cello MRUK asked 1,000 people whether the law should be changed in Scotland to allow doctors to help people with chronic illness, who want to die, to end their lives. It found that 68% said yes, 8% said no and 24% said they did not know.”
Bob McKay added:
"Overall, we believe that a moral, ethical and humane approach to prolonged suffering is to allow the individual to determine their own fate without fear of recrimination for relatives and carers. However we strongly endorse the proposed rules in the End of Life Choices to safeguard the vulnerable and those without mental capacity.
“We also endorse the establishment of a review committee to monitor the detailed working of such an Act if passed into law.
"We emphasise that good palliative care for the terminally ill is the right of every citizen, and we and reject any suggestion that there is a choice to be made between such care and the right to end one’s own life.
"As the secular voice for Scotland we believe that everyone should have equal rights irrespective of their personal beliefs."
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