Gay And Lesbian Humanists Express Solidarity for Gay Man Arrested Over Assisted Suicide of Partner

24th July 2009
The Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association (GALHA) expresses sympathy and solidarity to Alan Rees, arrested earlier this month after admitting that he accompanied his terminally ill civil partner Raymond Cutkelvin to Switzerland in 2007 for an assisted suicide..

GALHA, like the majority of the British Humanist movement, has long campaigned for people with terminal illnesses to be entitled to assisted euthanasia so long as certain key conditions are observed to ensure informed consent.

GALHA Secretary David Christmas commented:

“Alan’s case show’s the real human  cost and moral absurdities of a law, which not only forces people to die abroad, but leaves their family and loved ones open to the threat of prosecution if they agree to accompany them.

“Here we have a man still grieving from the loss of his partner of 28 years, now being treated as a potential criminal. The current law already forces people looking for assistance in ending their lives to die abroad. With cases like Alan’s partner’s, they face the added threat of having to die alone – to save their family from prosecution. Worse still, people may feel obliged to end their lives while they are still able to do so unaided, but before they are fully ready.

“Of course there have to be safeguards to ensure that someone seeking euthanasia has reached an informed decision, sustained over a reasonable period of time, and without pressure from others.

“We also fully respect the position and rights of those who choose to carry on and let nature take its course. One of the most important aspects of being human is the right to make choices about ones own life so long as no-one else’s freedoms are infringed. The ability for the terminally ill to choose the time and place of their own death or to decide to fight on to the end is therefore one of the most fundamental of all human rights.

GALHA therefore urges that this prosecution be dropped forthwith, that the law be amended to allow the terminally ill and their friends and family to travel without legal threats, and that voluntary euthanasia be legalised throughout the UK as soon as is practically possible.