Guernsey Rejects Assisted Suicide

Good on Guernsey! And God bless His Excellency, the Bishop of Portsmouth, Ordinary of Guernsey! He was a lone voice in the hierarchy, refusing to endorse Alder Hey's murder of Alfie Evans, as the rest of the English Bishops did.

Little known quirk of British Constitutional Law. The Bailiwick of Guernsey is not a part of the United Kingdom (nor is Jersey, for that matter). The Bailiwick of Guernsey includes the Isles of Sark and Alderney. It and the Bailiwick of Jersey make up the last bit of the Duchy of Normandy left to the Crown.

From the Catholic Herald

Flag of Guernsey

The Island's Legislature Voted Down a Proposal to Look Into Legalising the Practice

The legislature on the island of Guernsey has rejected legalising assisted suicide after a two-and-a-half-day debate.

The States of Guernsey voted to reject a requête (proposal) to look into legalising the practice, and will instead investigate “measures necessary to improve quality of life and health outcomes for all islanders towards the end of their lives”.

Last week, the most senior committee in the States – as the island’s legislature in known – voted unanimously not to support the proposal, saying it did not conform to their priorities and the complex legal issues would likely drain resources from other areas.

Disability groups and religious leaders had also criticised the proposal. Bishop Philip Egan of Portsmouth, whose diocese covers the island, was outspoken in condemning it. “It would be an intolerable and utterly immoral demand to ask medical staff, doctors and nurses, dedicated to preserving life, to extinguish the life of another human person,” he said.

“Assisting someone to die prematurely or assisting someone to commit suicide, even when they earnestly request it, can never ever be a compassionate action. It is a grave sin.”

After the vote on Friday, Bishop Egan tweeted:

Bishop Philip Egan@BishopEgan

Delighted to learn that Guernsey has rejected the proposals for physician assisted suicide and euthanasia! Thanks be to God for answering our prayer during this Great Novena leading to Pentecost.

Had the legislation passed, Guernsey could have become the first jurisdiction in the British Isles to introduce assisted suicide. In 2015, the British House of Commons voted by a wide margin to reject a similar proposal for the United Kingdom.