The Archbishop of Cardiff-Menevia, Archbishop Mark O’Toole, has welcomed the defeat of a motion in the Welsh Parliament, the Senedd, calling for a new law to allow assisted dying in Wales and England.
Twenty six politicians, including First Minister Eluned Morgan and Health Secretary Jeremy Miles, voted against the motion. 19 Senedd members voted in favour, and nine abstained.
“I was very pleased to see that the majority in the Senedd voted against a motion which encouraged assisted suicide legislation,” said Archbishop O’Toole. “Support of the most vulnerable in our society, so clearly threatened by the proposed law, is good to see.”
However, with a bill seeking to legalise assisted suicide due to have its Second Reading in the House of Commons in Westminster on Friday, 29 November, the Archbishop urged Catholics to take action:
“I continue to encourage all Catholics to write to their MPs to express their concerns about the proposed law currently before the UK parliament and to encourage them not to vote for it.”
