Church of England and Roman Catholic bishops have united to condemn as misguided and unnecessary a bill allowing carers to help people die.
Although the Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill bill is a private member's motion - sponsored by Lord Joffe, the former chairman of Oxfam and a human rights lawyer - and stands little chance of becoming law, it has reached a Lords select committee and the bishops' action is a pre-emptive move to stop it getting any further. It is unusual for both sets of bishops to oppose legislative proposals jointly.
The bill would enable terminally ill people to be helped to die if that is their settled wish, having been informed of the medical alternatives.
In a covering letter, Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury and Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, leader of the Catholic church in England and Wales, warn: "We believe very strongly that respect for human life at all its stages is the foundation of a civilised society and that the long-term consequences of any change in the law to allow euthanasia in limited circumstances would be immensely grave."
The bishops claim the bill's definition of a "unbearable suffering ... which the patient finds so severe as to be unacceptable" is too subjective and that its application to those whose death is likely to result "within a few months at most" is too vague.
They claim: "It is deeply misguided to propose a law by which it would be legal for terminally ill people to be killed or assisted in suicide by those caring for them, even if there are safeguards to ensure it is only the terminally ill who would qualify.
"To take this step would fundamentally undermine the basis of law and medicine and undermine the duty of the state to care for vulnerable people."