Polling shows there is no 'public consent' for assisted suicide

New polling released this week from JL Partners shows there is no public consent for the passage of Kim Leadbeater's assisted suicide Bill. When informed about the details of the Bill before parliament, “the British voter wants nothing to do with it” said James Johnson who conducted the poll.

The polling by JL Partners reveals that, while the public seem to support the idea of assisted suicide, that support disappears when they are informed about the specific nature of the Bill. This aligns with polling done by CARE in 2014 which showed that strong support for assisted suicide halved when people were shown the top five arguments against it.

The results of the poll demonstrates deep reservations regarding the assisted suicide legislation before Parliament. Of those who back the idea of assisted suicide, two thirds want to see more safeguards in place for those who are terminally ill. 72% said that properly defining those eligible for assisted suicide is more important than pressing on with the legislation. Eight in ten, or 78%, said that someone considering assisted suicide should be given other options, such as hospice or palliative care, before they can proceed. Only 18% favoured the idea of someone who has received a terminal diagnosis being able to proceed quickly without time for serious reflection.

The reality of the Bill before Parliament is that it contains none of the safeguards described above. “Once written into law, experts say the safeguards read more like statements of intent than rigorous means to detect and minimise coercion or family pressure,” writes Johnson.

An overwhelming majority (79%) want any assisted suicide process to be directly supervised by a medical professional, while 59% wanted legislation to force family members to be informed. Those polled were strongly against various groups being eligible for assisted suicide, including pregnant women, those with eating disorders, those with mental health issues or expressing suicidal thoughts, and those who are homeless.

James Johnson concludes that: “The public only support a Bill unrecognisable from its current state,” adding that some people “exploit public misunderstanding to assert that support is higher than it looks by merely polling the principle rather than the detail. It is hardly surprising this generates poll headlines that look better for assisted dying than the reality”. Although 80% of the public say that they understand the assisted suicide Bill, in reality only 38% can correctly describe it.

Johnson compares the results to polling he completed five years ago, saying that on returning to the previous data, “I was struck by one finding in particular. Asked about safeguards for assisted dying, only 10 per cent said that if there were not enough safeguards to make assisted dying safe, it should still be legalised. That’s right: only one in 10 – a fringe minority – backed proceeding regardless.”

Summarising his current findings, Johnson writes: “There was once consensus for assisted dying in Britain. As the public now looks at what they deem to be the deficient, much-altered Bill in front of Parliament today, that consensus is no more.”