By M. Peterson
The ACT Party is proposing changes to the End of Life Choice Act (EOLC) which may pose a danger for some disabled people.
Voluntary euthanasia has been legal in Aotearoa since 2021, following a binding referendum during the 2020 election in which the EOLC was approved by an overwhelming majority of voters — 65.9% were in favour, and only 34.1% were against. The scope of the original bill was narrow, with only those with terminal illnesses and less than six months to live eligible for assisted dying, and only if their application was confirmed by two doctors.
However, the ACT Party’s proposed changes to the EOLC are much more contentious. ACT MP Todd Stephenson is putting forward a member’s bill in Parliament which, if drawn from the ballot, seeks to broaden the eligibility criteria for assisted dying, potentially including those with chronic illnesses, disabilities and mental health issues. They propose shortening the current 6-month waiting period for assisted dying, and widening access to allow more healthcare providers to participate.
There is a danger in widening the scope of this legislation. It may exacerbate existing healthcare disparities faced by those with disabilities. When people are not being given the support they need for a dignified life, the answer is not to make it easier for them to die. If the government is failing to allow people access to adequate care, decent housing, medicines and other necessities of life, this can be experienced by a vulnerable person as a form of slow violence. The suffering of people in poverty with chronic health conditions must be addressed before access to assisted dying is widened.
Similar legislation in Canada which would have allowed Medical Assistance in Dying for people with mental health issues has been placed on hold after investigations found that many of those wanting to die were living in poverty and dealing with isolation, a lack of housing, and inadequate care. Politicians in Aotearoa must face the fact that they have obligations to address these issues before making euthanasia more readily accessible.
Expanding assisted dying may actually perpetuate harmful attitudes toward disability, implying that disabled lives are not worth living. We must work to remove barriers in work and daily life for disabled people. It is these barriers that make life so much harder for the disabled community.
While assisted dying can alleviate unbearable pain and distress for those with chronic and terminal conditions, globally there have been calls to provide better safeguards and protections for disabled people when euthanasia is an option. The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities issued a report in 2019 making this point crystal clear.
Disabled people in Aotearoa are having their quality of life diminished by the Coalition Government which ACT is part of. ACT’s solution to this problem appears to be giving disabled people the right to die with dignity. This is disgraceful. What this government and all governments must uphold is the human right to live with dignity — the right to housing, the right to adequate physical and mental healthcare, the right to accessibility in public spaces, and the right to a livable income. The right to die should always be the final option, once all other methods of alleviating suffering have failed.
We must fight to uphold dignity of life for our disabled communities. That means stopping these proposed changes to the End of Life Choice Act.
M. Peterson is an activist from Auckland. She is the Treasurer of System Change Aotearoa.
