Scottish politicians have been urged to show terminally ill people compassion and choice in how they die as they began to debate a new law to permit assisted dying.
Liam McArthur, a Scottish Liberal Democrat MP, said too many dying people faced “horrendous choices and bad deaths”, including unregulated suicides or prolonged trauma because they were denied the right to an assisted death.
The Scottish parliament is preparing for what may be a knife-edge vote later on Tuesday on whether to start scrutinising an assisted dying bill proposed by McArthur, days before MPs at Westminster vote on passing similar legislation for England and Wales.
In an emotional opening speech to MSPs, McArthur said voting to block the bill at this early stage, before it is fully considered, would deny choice to the terminally ill, and prevent Holyrood passing a measured and compassionate law.
He said more than 300 million people worldwide lived in countries where assisted dying was legal and working fairly, while closer to home the Isle of Man had passed assisted dying laws and Jersey was close to doing so.
“It is the voices of dying Scots and their families that must be at the heart of today’s debate,” he said, and promised to accept many proposed amendments, including fixing the age at 18 and over, and tighter scrutiny and monitoring. “We can’t continue to leave this issue in the ‘too difficult’ box. That would be unforgivable.”
Before McArthur spoke about 60 disability rights activists who oppose the bill heard the Silent Witness actor Liz Carr urge MSPs to reject it during a rally outside Holyrood.
She said disabled people were not immune to arguments about the pain and suffering some terminally ill suffered. “We know these stories, we know about pain, we know about suffering,” she told the rally.
“So we also have the wisdom to say we can live good lives, but we need the resources, we need the support, we need the social care, the health care, the welfare reform, the accessibility and the bloody attitudes to look at us and go, actually, you can be an older person, an ill person, a disabled person and have value.”
A number of prominent Scottish party leaders have already announced they will vote against the bill going forward, including Nicola Sturgeon, the former first minister, and the current first minister John Swinney, and Scottish Labour’s leader Anas Sarwar, and his deputy Jackie Baillie.
But Russell Findlay, the Scottish Conservative leader, and his deputy Rachael Hamilton are to support it at stage one. Speaking before the debate, Findlay said he shared many reservations about the bill, which include the definition of terminal illness and protecting people against coercion, but believed it could be improved.
“I believe that those suffering from terminal illness should have the right to choose to end their lives with dignity,” he said.
That argument was challenged by Edward Mountain, another Scottish Tory MSP, who said that while the bill could prevent direct coercion of the terminally ill, it could not prevent passive coercion or coercion by the state.
Too many Scots could not access proper palliative care, and could not afford private care. That may coerce them into assisted suicide, to cut costs and stress. And the drugs used to end life could also cause distress, he claimed.
“This parliament has a duty to make it easier to choose life, rather than making it easier to die, which is what this bill will do,” he said.
But Rona Mackay, an SNP MSP and deputy convenor of Holyrood’s assisted dying all-party group, said this bill was not “a leap into the unknown. It is a cautious, evidence-based step forward. Voluntary assisted dying is founded on international best practice. [The] framework it proposes is safe, compassionate and practical.”