Dozens of hospices and care homes could be forced to close if MPs approve the Assisted Suicide Bill this Friday, the leader of the Catholic Church in England and Wales has warned.
Cardinal Vincent Nichols believes the legislation would require institutions to facilitate assisted suicide, which conflicts with Catholic values and teachings.
He made the remarks in a joint statement with Archbishop John Sherrington of Liverpool, the lead bishop for life issues.
“We call attention to the fact that the future of many care homes and hospices will be put in grave doubt if the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill becomes law,” they wrote.
“Our Parliament has now rejected amendments that would have allowed such institutions not to be involved in assisted suicide.”
They argued that the rights the current Bill grants to individuals seeking assisted dying “are likely to trump the mission and values of institutions such as hospices and care homes”.
“In other words, a right to assisted suicide given to individuals is highly likely to become a duty on care homes and hospices to facilitate it. We fear that this Bill will thereby seriously affect the provision of social care and palliative care across the country,” they continued.
“Institutions whose mission has always been to provide compassionate care in sickness or old age, and to provide such care until the end of life, may have no choice, in the face of these demands, but to withdraw from the provision of such care.
“The widespread support which hospices attract from local communities will also be undermined by these demands which, in many cases, will require these institutions to act contrary to their traditional and principled foundations,” they added.
The Catholic leaders concluded the statement with a plea to “avoid this tragedy” by defeating the Bill on Friday.
In most jurisdictions where assisted suicide is legal, care homes and hospices have been required to facilitate it. England and Wales will likely follow suit, especially after an amendment protecting institutions from involvement was rejected.