MEDIA RELEASE
12 August 2016
Submissions Say No To Assisted Suicide 3:1
Family First NZ is welcoming an analysis of submissions made to the Inquiry on assisted suicide showing a 3:1 opposition to any change in the law, and is also calling on ACT MP David Seymour to
withdraw his grandstanding bill so that the important conversation around end-of-life care can happen.
“It is ironic that ex-MP Maryan street implied that a record 22,000 responses to her petition meant that it is time to legalise euthanasia. In fact, the message is
clearly the exact opposite. New Zealanders want a conversation - but they are opposed to assisted suicide as the
solution,” says Bob McCoskrie, National Director of Family First NZ.
“We’re calling on David Seymour to kill his pre-emptive strike on this issue, withdraw his private members bill, and
support the Inquiry to its completion. The country needs to have a robust honest debate about assisted suicide without
the emotion of a law change in the mix, and examine whether so-called ‘safeguards’ deserve that label, whether coercion
is subtle but real, whether patients will ask themselves why they are not availing themselves of assisted suicide, and whether our already-excellent palliative care regime can be improved in
any way.”
“There are mixed messages when society rightly wants to take a zero tolerance approach to suicide yet at the same time
attempts to approve a person taking their life. The potential for abuse and flouting of procedural safeguards is a
strong argument against assisted suicide. Overseas experience proves that the risk of abuse cannot be eliminated. The
risk of ‘suicide contagion’ associated with a media campaign around promoting euthanasia is also a real concern,” says
Mr McCoskrie.
“David Seymour should pull the plug on his private member’s bill and allow the conversation to happen.”
ENDS