29 January 2021
The message from the strong majority of Christians to our politicians is ‘vote yes to voluntary assisted dying’.
The VAD Bill is due to be debated in SA Parliament again this year, having failed to pass by a single casting vote from the Speaker of the House in 2016.
“I think they (politicians) need to listen to their electorate,’’ Ian Wood, national coordinator of Christians Supporting Choice for Voluntary Assisted Dying, told ABC Radio today.
“They’re elected to represent the people and reputable polling shows that three out of four Christians, whatever the denomination and whatever political party, around three out of four Christians support the issue.
“So the MPs in a democracy should vote in accordance with the wishes of their electorate.’’
A recent poll has shown more than 85 per cent of ANMF (SA Branch) members are supportive of the introduction of VAD legislation that is based on the Victorian framework.
The ANMF (SA Branch) in November published a full-page open letter in The Advertiser calling on our state politicians to pass the voluntary assisted dying Bill when it is introduced in Parliament.
“The impact on nurses and carers at the bedside of the terminally ill is all too raw. We are the ones who hear their cries for an end to the suffering, powerless to act, heartbreaking as it is to witness,’’ the letter stated.