Concerns raised over new effort to legalise euthanasia

A leading anti-euthanasia group has said that a disabled man's efforts to legalise euthanasia undermines everyone's security.

No Less Human, a group within SPUC Pro-Life representing disabled people, was responding to the legal challenge launched today by Tony Nicklinson, who is seeking voluntary euthanasia by lethal dose.

Janet Thomas of No Less Human commented: "The killing of vulnerable, innocent people, whether able-bodied or not, is never right, even when those people ask to be killed. The deliberate killing of any innocent person damages the interests of us all.

"Mr Nicklinson feels he wants to die because of his disabilities - as if human value and worth are to be measured by physical ability. Human worth lies not in what people can do but in what they inherently are. Each human life whether damaged or not whether a short one or a long one is a gift of incomparable value.

"Mr Nicklinson says he is fed up with his life and can see no purpose to it, but this is also said by many able-bodied victims, often teenagers or young adults who leap off bridges, hang themselves or jump under trains.

"Many people in No Less Human have found that coping with their disabling conditions can be improved. These improvements come via positive help and support from family, friends and the community, and by a refusal to accept that there is any life which is worthless.

"Society, through its laws against murder and assisted suicide, comes down in favour of life. Every time someone decides that there are lives not worth living, he or she damages the security of all of us", concluded Mrs Thomas.

Source: No Less Human