The Christian charity CARE published new polling on July 18 demonstrating that those who support assisted suicide in principle switch to opposition when presented with the reality of assisted suicide in practice.
The polling shows that the level of support for assisted suicide rapidly dwindles from 73% to 43% overall when evidence is offered about the nature or source of opposition to assisted suicide. Opposition to assisted suicide therefore increases from 12% to 43% with 14% in the ‘don’t know’ category.
When faced with evidence
The ComRes poll revealed that 21% of adults (one in five) would change from supporting assisted suicide to opposing it when faced with the evidence that there has been a steady annual increase in the number of cases and spread of the practice to involve people with chronic but not fatal diseases, disabled people, children and those with mental illnesses and dementia in countries which have changed the law to allow assisted suicide. And, when the expense of hospice care (£3-4,000/week) is compared with the low cost of the lethal drugs used to end lives (£5), the threat of end of life care worsening under financial pressures changed the minds of 15% of supporters of assisted suicide who instead opted to oppose it.
