Have you seen our Protect Our Children Campaign?

Burnham Blow to Assisted Suicide Drive

In a major setback for the assisted suicide lobby ahead of the 11 September vote on the revived assisted suicide Bill, the Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, has said that the debate around introducing assisted suicide should not take place in a context where palliative and social care remains poorly funded, confirming “that’s the position I will stick to”.

The assisted suicide lobby had relied heavily on the previous Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, publicly backing the previous Leadbeater assisted suicide Bill – with the previous Prime Minister voting in favour of the Bill and giving it time to be debated in Parliament. 

This likely swayed a number of Labour MPs to vote for the previous Bill – with the BBC reporting that Sir Keir’s support was privately cited by Labour MPs as a reason they voted for the previous Bill.

Only 12 MPs need to change their minds for the new assisted suicide Bill to fall.

Seven MPs from Labour, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats who had backed the previous Bill at Third Reading have already said they do not support plans to force it into law via the Parliament Acts / bringing back the Bill in this new Parliamentary session. 

This major intervention from the Prime Minister will likely move a number of Labour votes to oppose the Bill, meaning that Lauren Edwards now faces an exceptionally difficult uphill battle to pass the Second Reading vote on 11 September. 

An MRP poll of over 10,000 people, the largest public poll conducted on assisted suicide since Kim Leadbeater’s Bill was introduced in October 2024, has shown that there is no mandate from the public to revive Leadbeater’s failed assisted suicide bill and circumvent the House of Lords to push it into law.

Legalising assisted suicide came rock bottom of a list of voters’ priorities they want their MP to focus on if they have the opportunity to make a law change (e.g. through a Private Members’ Bill) over the next year, with half the support of the next lowest scoring priority. Asked to select three priorities, just 7% of the public and 7% of Labour voters consider assisted suicide a priority.

In line with Burnham’s position on assisted suicide, in every single constituency in Great Britain, the majority of voters agreed that Parliament should prioritise fixing the NHS and improving palliative, social and end-of-life care before considering whether to introduce assisted suicide.

Euthanasia Horror in Canada

 A 83-year-old Christian grandmother with cognitive problems has been euthanised despite her stated opposition and against her family’s will through Canada’s euthanasia program in July.

According to her family’s horrifying account, great-grandmother Brigitte Stegemann had lived in an Ontario long-term care facility for the final two years of her life. She originally explicitly stated that, due to her Christian beliefs, she didn’t want to be euthanised. About five months before her death, she had been diagnosed with untreatable Stage IV stomach cancer.

While her granddaughter — named Brigette in her grandmother’s honour — who held legal power of attorney was away on vacation, the medical team convinced Stegemann to request euthanasia or “Medical Assistance in Dying” (MAID).

“The facility initiated the renewed MAiD discussions with a patient who had declined,” noted Kelsi Sheren in her Substack report, “The Last Ten Days of Brigette ‘GG’ Stegemann.”

Sheren listed the ways that staff at the facility quietly worked toward planning Stegemann’s demise without her family’s knowledge. 

“The facility’s staff conducted the private meetings while the advocate was away. The facility’s manager completed the application. The facility’s personnel witnessed the signature,” wrote Sheren.  

“At every load bearing point where the law imagines independence, the same institution appears initiator, facilitator, scribe, and witness while the one genuinely independent party, a Power of Attorney of twelve years, was kept, in the family’s phrase, in the dark despite their constant physical presence at the home.”

Writing at the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition’s blog, the family recounted a troubling July 6 meeting with staff:

Our family attended the scheduled MAID meeting expecting to discuss the process with GG’s physician.

Before the physician arrived, an administrator and a registered nurse from the facility entered the room and advised us that the doctor was running behind schedule.

During this conversation, which took place entirely inside GG’s room in her immediate presence, Brigitte asked who had arranged the MAID meeting. No clear answer was ever given. Instead, the family was met with an immediate wall of defensiveness, specifically from the registered nurse. The nurse informed the family that staff had met privately with GG on two occasions during Brigitte’s 10-day vacation to discuss MAID.

Brigitte asked why those discussions had been initiated when GG had previously declined MAID due to her Christian beliefs. She asked point-blank whether these conversations were initiated by GG herself or by the facility staff.

The registered nurse became physically agitated and defensive, wagging her head back and forth as she spoke directly to Brigitte, stating, “I’m advocating for her.”

When Brigitte pushed further to find out exactly who brought up the conversation about MAID, the nurse snapped, “I don’t need to tell you anything.”