"None of us have the right to tell another how much suffering they can and should bear.” This quote from Baroness Wheeler goes to the heart of the decision being made by members of the House of Commons.
Today our MPs are voting on the proposed Assisted Dying Bill and much of their debate will be concerned with the practicalities of government-controlled euthanasia, not least the protection of the vulnerable. But the issues go much deeper.
The basic question is “Who owns my body?”
At first glance, the answer seems obvious. It’s my life, my responsibility, my decision. Hence the slogan from the 1960’s: “My body, my choice.” We’re talking here about bodily autonomy - it’s for me to decide on how I may use, even abuse my body. No one, no authority, has the right to make those decisions for me.
This sovereignty of the individual is assumed, for example, by Robert F. Kennedy Jr, Trump’s proposed secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, in his opposition to vaccines.
It’s not that vaccines themselves are wrong, it’s that governments simply should not have the right to push vaccination programmes. “I’m not anti-vaccine,” pronounced RFK. “I just want good science. People should be able to make informed choices.”
But here we see the weakness of such a position. I choose to be vaccinated not simply for my own well-being but for the benefit of others. The fact is that vaccination only works effectively when everyone is vaccinated. Furthermore, should I become ill as a result of refusing vaccination, I will take invaluable resources from an overstretched health service.
But what about my right to decide when to die?
You may not realise this, but suicide was punished as a crime in England and Wales until 1961. It may seem strange to us now that 31-year-old William Morgan, of Islington, north London, who tried to take his life in an elaborate way involving a van, was sent to jail for a month in February 1959.
However, in those days there was a much stronger sense of community, of having responsibilities for others. Moreover, suicide – in fact, any form of self-harm - will cause deep distress to family members and others, such as train drivers.
So in that far-off era simply to take your own life was not a decision you were allowed to take, not least to protect the vulnerable and keep others from heartache.
It was Pancras North Labour MP Kenneth Robinson, who raised the issue in the Commons many times. Finally on 27 February 1958 he tabled a motion contending that suicide should cease to be a criminal offence, beginning the process of decriminalisation.
A bill to allow assisted dying, however, goes beyond this. And in some countries, such as Canada, goes well beyond this, to include the young and mentally ill. For myself, the slippery slope argument has much weight. Whatever you may think of it, the 1967 Abortion Act never anticipated the level of abortions we have today. Once the principle is established, there may well be an incremental growth in euthanasia..
However, there is a basic theological argument going back to the question “Who owns my body? For the answer is simple but today massively contested by our secular culture: God, He who made us and who made us for himself, that – in the words of the Westminster confession – we may glorify him and enjoy him forever.
So the Psalmist may rejoice: “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” (Psalm 139:14). Our bodies, as increasingly shown by medical science, are incredible, awesome. And we are given them on trust.
You and I are made in the image of our creator, an image damaged by sin but such is God’s astonishing love for us that Jesus’ body was broken for us on the cross. His resurrection victory changes everything so that we look forward to the resurrection of our bodies..
Our bodies are important, sacred dwelling places for God’s presence. So the apostle Paul may assert: “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?” (1 Corinthians 6:19)
He spells it out: “You are not your own; you were bought at a price.” (v20). And his conclusion: “Therefore honour God with your bodies.” You can’t be any clearer than that!
Author Tim Challies explains: “God has the right of ownership and the right of redemption. I am to relate to my body as a grateful steward rather than an autonomous owner.”He concludes: “This is my solemn responsibility, to gladly surrender my body to God, to use it in the ways he commands.”
Of course, I realise that this argument would be rejected out of hand by our peers, who would resent any claim that we are stewards of the wonderful bodies which God has entrusted to us. However, for me this is the fundamental reason why I understand that the time of my death is for God to decide.
And then one day, I'll cross the river,
I'll fight life's final war with pain;
And then, as death gives way to victory,
I'll see the lights of glory and I'll know He lives!
Because He lives, I can face tomorrow,
Because He lives, all fear is gone;
Because I know He holds the future,
And life is worth the living,
Just because He lives!
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