“In our view, none of the four draft laws that have been introduced into the debate on assisted suicide so far offer an acceptable and convincing regulation.” This is what Erwin Kress, Vice President of the Humanist Association of Germany (HVD) and spokesperson on the topic of autonomy at the end of life, said today in Berlin on the upcoming reading on the regulation of assisted suicide in the German Bundestag this Friday. Kress emphasized that the proposals of all parliamentary groups would lead to a deterioration of the current legal situation. He appealed to the MPs not to vote for any of the drafts presented. “Do not bow to the pressure of a supposedly indispensable legislative procedure once it has been set in motion! In the interests of us all, the existing legal situation on euthanasia should be maintained and not tightened under any circumstances,” said Kress. Previously, numerous representatives of the medical profession and 140 professors of criminal law had also spoken out against a law to tighten up the regulation of assisted suicide, as had the Chair of the German Ethics Council, Christiane Woopen. She told the news magazine “Focus” on Saturday that there are “no serious abuses in our society that would make a law necessary” and that there is “no urgent need for legislation.” Woopen spoke out in favor of passing a law to prevent suicides instead. HVD Vice President Erwin Kress went on to say that outside of parliamentary circles at federal level, a clear majority in society does not want either a ban on assisted suicide or its legal restriction to certain professional groups such as doctors. “This is shown by the representative surveys, this is shown by the opinions of legal and medical expert groups and this is shown by the many citizens who have made urgent written appeals to MPs in recent days. Members of a democratic parliament should see it as their duty to take these votes seriously,” said Kress. He therefore welcomed the announcement by representatives of the two group motions led by MPs Renate Künast (Bündnis 90/Die Grüne) and Petra Sitte (DIE LINKE) as well as Peter Hintze (CDU) and Carola Reimann (SPD) that they would vote against any further regulation in the event of a lack of majorities for their own draft. However, he expressed clear criticism of Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel and SPD Chairman Sigmar Gabriel. They had previously officially backed the draft of the group of MPs led by Kerstin Griese (SPD) and Michael Brand (CDU), which aims to criminalize “business-like”, i.e. repeated, and “organized” assisted suicide. “In the case of a conscience decision, as should be on the agenda in this debate, it would have been better for the leading representatives of the two largest parliamentary groups in the Bundestag not to exert pressure on the members of their parliamentary groups by taking their own position in the run-up to the vote,” said Erwin Kress. “Self-determination is a fundamental and human right, right up to the end of life,” Kress concluded. “I therefore appeal to all members of the Bundestag who take the wishes of the majority of citizens seriously or even feel unsure: Vote no four times on November 6, 2015!”
On the topic
Appeal 2015: The Alliance for Self-Determination until the End of Life, which was founded on the initiative of the Humanist Association in March 2014, recently published an appeal to the members of the German Bundestag on the occasion of the vote on the draft legislation to criminalize assisted suicide/assisted dying. This can be sent directly to the more than 600 members of the Bundestag in their own name, simply and easily, by citizens who wish to campaign for the existing impunity of assisted suicide.
