Desperate euthanasia opponents either dishonest or innumerate

“It’s now impossible to deny public support for assisted dying,” says ACT Leader and End of Life Choice Bill sponsor David Seymour, “but that won’t stop the lowest opponents from stooping a little further.

“Deniers of public opinion on assisted dying are living in dreamland, an obvious example being Bob McCoskrie of Family First. I don’t know if it’s honesty or numeracy that he lacks, but not many people would describe a 16,000-person quantitative survey by the University of Auckland that has been running for seven years and provided data for 100 peer reviewed papers ‘weak’, ‘incomplete’, and ‘drawing dubious conclusions,’ as Mr McCoskrie has tried to pass it off in this morning’s paper.

“The sample size of this survey eclipses previous polling on this topic, while also backing up previous findings: New Zealanders support the right to an assisted death for the painfully ill. It matches ACT commissioned polling by Curia Research (also 66 per cent support), a July Colmar 2015 Colmar Brunton poll (75 per cent support), a July 2015 Reid Research Poll (71 per cent support).

“The result of any poll can be influenced by the question’s wording – it’s safe to assume that support in this case would have registered even higher had the survey outlined potential safeguards, such as those included in the End of Life Choice Bill.

“The End of Life Choice Bill remains in the parliamentary ballot. The Government should adopt the bill now and seek to have this debate and conscience vote wrapped up before the election but, meanwhile, the opponents should try to play a straight bat.”

ENDS

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