The rest of life demands of us few more agonising choices than those surrounding birth and death.
In late 2010 Margo MacDonald's End of Life Assistance Bill was rejected by 85 votes to 16 at Holyrood. Yet yesterday the Independent MSP was back in the chamber with a new bid to legalise assisted suicide. Her return to this issue, so soon after her first bill was so decisively rejected, testifies to her impressive campaigning zeal on this issue, a zeal intensified by her own Parkinson's diagnosis. It is also a reflection of the way the ground is shifting in this debate. With new members making up one-third of the Scottish Parliament and opinion polls suggesting growing support for the right to be helped to die, it would be a mistake to write off her chances of success this time around.
A troubling debate that we must not avoid having
WITH the exception of abortion, it is hard to think of a more emotive and contentious area of public debate and medical ethics than assisted dying.
The rest of life demands of us few more agonising choices than those surrounding birth and death.
In late 2010 Margo MacDonald's End of Life Assistance Bill was rejected by 85 votes to 16 at Holyrood. Yet yesterday the Independent MSP was back in the chamber with a new bid to legalise assisted suicide. Her return to this issue, so soon after her first bill was so decisively rejected, testifies to her impressive campaigning zeal on this issue, a zeal intensified by her own Parkinson's diagnosis. It is also a reflection of the way the ground is shifting in this debate. With new members making up one-third of the Scottish Parliament and opinion polls suggesting growing support for the right to be helped to die, it would be a mistake to write off her chances of success this time around.
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Don't show me this again.