Protecting vulnerable people from being coerced to end their lives is the aim of a group of MPs who are opposed to the
End of Life Choice Bill, which enters its committee stages in Parliament today, MP for North Shore Hon Maggie Barry and
MP for Helensville Chris Penk say.
“We will be individually tabling and supporting a number of amendments to the proposed law which will reduce the
likelihood of people being coerced into ending their lives because other people think it is the right choice,” Ms Barry
says.
“The bill as it is written has no effective safeguards to protect people from coercion and wrongful deaths. Even one
wrongful death is one too many.”
The amendments include raising the age of eligibility to 25 and ensuring those eligible are able to make an independent
decision.
“We will be proposing a large number of changes to the End of Life Choice bill,” Mr Penk says. “This bill as it is
written is recognised by all MPs as deficient in many areas. Even the sponsor of the bill has already had to propose
dozens of amendments of his own. Parliament is just beginning the very complex process of addressing some very difficult
policy issues that were never addressed in the drafting of this proposed law.”
The group of MPs opposed to the bill from across the house has undertaken to debate the bill positively and not engage
in obstruction or filibustering. “We are not here to play games,” Mr Penk says. “But we also will not compromise on the
quality of this proposed law – not when it is literally a matter of life or death.
"In particular, we are here to consider whether the offer of choice in dying for some people can be met with a guarantee
of protection from harm for all people, or whether such protection proves impossible to achieve in the end despite the
best intentions and goodwill of MPs.”
Ms Barry emphasised that the bill to legalise euthanasia and assisted suicide is entering its most important
Parliamentary phase.
“The End of Life Choice Bill passed its early readings on a promise that MPs were not making a final commitment and that
they would have the opportunity to change it, or even reject it later,” Ms Barry says.
“There is no ‘later’ now. Today marks the commencement of a debate where all of us as 120 MPs have to start taking
personal responsibility for every component of this bill.”