Health Select Committee Members Opposed to End of Life Choice Bill

There are two Labour Party members on the Parliamentary Health Select Committee, Right to Life applauds these two highly respected members, David Clark MP and Poto Williams MP, who have expressed opposition to the End of Life Choice bill of ACT leader David Seymour MP. This is of critical importance for the Labour Party and for the community. The purpose of these Members being on the Select Committee is to advise their caucus on the appropriate cause of action the caucus should adopt on this bill.

in the interest of the community. It is disappointing that there are sixteen Labour MPs who in a poll conducted recently by NZ Herald indicated that they would support this highly contentious bill and ten who were still undecided. Will these MP’s be willing to take informed advice?

Right to Life urges these Members to consult urgently with David Clark and Poto Williams who have studied this issue for two years including reading the submissions of 21,277 members of the community and listening to more than 1,000 oral submissions. A careful analysis of the submissions revealed that 16,411, or 77 per cent of the submissions were opposed to euthanasia.

The Committee was given the responsibility by Parliament in August 2015, to consider the petition of the Hon Maryan Street and 8,974 others. The petition read; “That the House of Representatives investigate fully public attitudes towards the introduction of legislation which would permit medically-assisted dying in the event of a terminal illness or an irreversible condition which makes life unbearable.”

Poto Williams is the Labour spokesperson for the disability sector, that sector knows that euthanasia devalues the lives of the disabled. The Labour Party has always advocated for the weak and the marginalised in society. Right to Life now hopes that the Labour caucus will follow the leadership and courage of Poto Williams and David Clark by voting against David Seymour’s contentious bill.

• Let us defend vigorously our medical profession whose ethics are under mortal attack from those who seek to destroy the sanctity of life ethic and make our doctors, not carers but killers.

• Let us to defend our world class Hospices staffed by highly qualified doctors and nurses who provide quality palliative care with pain control and death with dignity.

• Let us protect the most vulnerable members of our community, the aged, the disabled and the seriously ill.

• Let us give a message of hope and not despair to our youth who have the second highest rate of youth suicide in the world.

ENDS

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