In this open letter, women from different faiths unite in voicing safeguarding concerns over the current legislation for Assisted Dying. 04/04/2025
We write as a group of women of faith from different traditions and backgrounds passionate about care for people in vulnerable situations, many of whom have dedicated our professional lives to preventing male violence against women and girls.
We hold a variety of views on the principle of legalising assisted dying. However, we are all clear that the current legislation – The Terminally Ill Adults Bill – progressing through parliament, has insufficient safeguards to protect some of the most marginalised in society, particularly women subjected to gender–based violence, and abuse by a partner, who also experience intersecting barriers to a full and safe life.
We are concerned that the proposed legislation could create a new tool to harm vulnerable women, particularly those being subjected to domestic abuse and coercive control, by helping them to end their lives.
A report out last month showed that the number of domestic abuse victims who died by suicide in England and Wales was higher than the number of people killed by their abusive partner, for the second year running.
We know too that domestic abuse victims who are also women of faith can face a particular form of abuse[1] at the hands of their perpetrators, who may weaponise theologies and culture to harm and control their victims. We are concerned that the assisted dying legislation, as it stands, fails to take account of how faith and its role at the end of life, as well as its use by both perpetrators and the women they abuse, create complex dynamics that can lead to vulnerable women, who may also hold strong religious beliefs, seeing no way out but death.
We know that poverty and other inequalities increase the risk of women and girls being subjected to violence, ill health and the quality of care and support they receive from statutory institutions and civil society. We know too that in a society riven with inequalities, women who are from Black and minoritised communities, disabled women, migrant women and working–class women, struggle to be heard. Their voices are absent from conversations about this bill, and so too are those subjective to coercive control or violence. It is unclear to us how the legislation and its consultative process has taken account of the multiplicity of faiths, cultures, socio–economic and health backgrounds of our citizens and women who make up our country.
Much of the debate inside and outside parliament has been conducted by those empowered to speak of the importance of personal choice, without consideration of those who struggle to be heard in the public square. It is the voices of the unheard, ignored, and marginalised that we are compelled by our faith traditions and scriptures to listen and draw attention to, in the pursuit of good law–making for the common good – legislation that considers and protects the most vulnerable, not just those who speak loudest.
Having followed the progress of the bill through parliament, we are particularly concerned about:
- The risk that people (mainly women) with controlling and abusive partners (mainly men) will be coerced into assisted death. While we welcome the adopted amendments that stipulate training for the assessing doctors and the panel members, this safeguard only comes into play after someone has already been coerced into declaring that they want an assisted death, and will clearly not catch all cases. We also know, from research and experience, that coercive control is a long–term process that is both insidious and subtle with women often unaware of it until the perpetrator’s behaviour escalates.
- The reality that since 2016, deaths by suicide have been included in the scope of domestic homicide reviews and there is growing research on women who die by suicide as directly linked to having an abusive partner. We are concerned that if this legislation passes, women may seek assisted deaths to end their suffering at the hands of an abuser. Domestic Homicide Reviews also reveal the disproportionate number of Black and minoritised women who are failed by statutory and state agencies like the police, social services, health services and specialist services like substance misuse and mental health and women’s services despite their calls for help.
- There are no longer High Court protections embedded in the Bill
- There are insufficient protections for those with learning disabilities and people with anorexia.
- The use of the vehicle of the Private Member’s Bill for this landmark legislation. This has resulted in the impact assessment being shared after the Bill Committee stage, which makes it difficult for all of us with concerns about inequalities to gauge how this legislation will affect Black and minoritised and faith communities, people with disabilities, and those experiencing economic disadvantage.
If assisted dying is seen as a response to alleviate suffering, without addressing the underlying structural issues that make life difficult and safeguard against harm, it could put undue pressure on vulnerable women to choose death over inadequate care.
This is no way to legislate, especially not on matters of life and death. We have serious concerns about the bill and its lack of safeguards. The bill has too much potential to hurt vulnerable people and so we are uniting as women from across faith traditions to speak up for vulnerable women, including victims of violence against women and girls, and disabled women, and raise our concerns publicly.
Signatories:
Chine McDonald, director, Theos
Bekah Legg, CEO, Restored
Huda Jawad, co–founder and executive director, Faith and VAWG Coalition
Sam Clifford, CEO, Jewish Women’s Aid
The Rt Revd and Rt Hon Dame Sarah Mullally DBE, Bishop of London
Dr Naomi Green, Assistant Secretary General, Muslim Council of Britain
Professor Sheila The Baroness Hollins, President, The Catholic Union of Great Britain
Rabbi Debbie Young–Somers
Zara Mohammed, former secretary general, Muslim Council of Britain
Hannah Rich, director, Christians on the Left
Revd Dr Helen Paynter, founding director, Centre for the Study of Bible and Violence
Naomi Lerer, CEO, Noa Girls
Amanda Jackson, senior advisor on diversity, World Evangelical Alliance
The Rt Revd Rachel Treweek, Lord Bishop of Gloucester and Anglican Bishop for HM Prisons
Commissioner Jenine Main, Territorial Leader, The Salvation Army, United Kingdom and Ireland
Louisa Collyer–Hamlin, Head of External Affairs, Catholic Union
Patricia Stoat, Science Health & Bioethics Committee of the National Board of Catholic Women
Rt Revd Rose Hudson–Wilkin, Bishop of Dover
Dr Sahira Dar, president, British Islamic Medical Association
Rachel Fink, CEO, S&P Sephardi Jewish Community
Tola Doll Fisher, Creative Director and Editor, Premier Woman Alive
Elizabeth Harris Sawczenko, OBE, Interfaith consultant
Nikki Dhillon Keane, Head of Caritas Safe in Faith
Jagbir Jhutti–Johal, Professor of Sikh Studies, University of Birmingham
Professor Tina Beattie, Professor Emerita of Catholic Studies, University of Roehampton, London
The Rt Revd Dr Joanne Woolway Grenfell, Bishop of Stepney and Lead Safeguarding Bishop for the Church of England
Natalie Collins, author and activist
Sian Rees, head of Bible Society Wales
Rt Revd Dr Jill Duff, Anglican Bishop of Lancaster
The Rt Revd Vivienne Faull, Lord Bishop of Bristol
Rev Catherine De Souza, CEO, Prison Fellowship England & Wales
Sally Hope, Domestic Abuse Practitioner and Writer
Dr Selina Stone, Lecturer in Theology and Ethics, University of Edinburgh
Dawn McAvoy, Both Lives UK
Mandy Marshall, Director for Gender Justice, Anglican Alliance and Anglican Communion
Revd Jenni Entrican, Former President of the European Baptist Federation
Alicia Edmund, Head of public policy Evangelical Alliance
Dr Madeleine Pennington, Quaker writer and head of research, Theos
Damilola Makinde, Advocacy engagement lead, Evangelical Alliance
Julia Bicknell, ex–BBC Woman’s Hour producer; lay chaplain for asylum seekers/refugees
The Rt Revd Dr Rosemarie Mallett, Bishop of Croydon
Rev Mae Christie, Vicar, All Saints, Tooting
Joy Madeiros, Co–Founder, Oasis UK
Ann–Louise Graham, journalist and biblical counselor
Prof. Anna Rowlands, St Hilda Professor of Catholic Social Thought and Practice
Canon Dr Sanjee Perera, lay canon of Liverpool Cathedral, organisational psychologist and theologian
Aja Thorburn, writer
Michelle Tant, Midwifery Lecturer and writer
Joanna Davey, editorial director, Hodder Faith
Rev Bryony Taylor, Rector of Barlborough and Clowne and Author
Dr Elizabeth Dalgarno, director, SHERA research group
Dr Caroline Hull, national director, Aid to the Church in Need (UK)
Amy Summerfield, CEO, Kyria Network
Rev Liz Clutterbuck, Priest–in–Charge Emmanuel Hornsey Road, Islington
Rev Leonora Wassell, Co–Chair, Methodist Women in Britain
Rebecca (Bex) Chapman, General Synod member and vice–chair, Christians in Media
Debra Green OBE, CEO, ROC
Alice Gray, palliative care doctor and assistant pastor, Oasis Church, Birmingham
Ruth Parrott, former president and co–chair, Methodist Women in Britain
Shermara Fletcher–Hoyte, Principal Officer for Pentecostal, Charismatic and Multi–cultural Relations, Churches Together in England
Catherine Butcher, author, lay reader, and member of General Synod
Faith Van Horne, PhD, Theology and Religion, University of Birmingham
Jamie Phear, writer and speaker
Rachel Muers, Professor of Divinity, University of Edinburgh
Jayne Manfredi, Anglican Deacon
Katharine Lock
Rev Cham Kaur–Mann, Co–Director, Next Leadership
The Rt Revd Esther Prior, Bishop of Aston
Rev Dr Kate Coleman, Co–Director, Next Leadership
Rosemary Nuamah–Williams, policy Adviser and advocate
Jo Chamberlain, National Environment Officer, Church of England Environment Programme
Dr Usha Reifsnider, Co regional Director, Lausanne Europe, Cultural Theology Consultant
Lucy Butt, CEO, Bramber Bakehouse
Dr Janet Soskice, Professor of Philosophical Theology, Emeritus, University of Cambridge
Stella Mbubaegbu CBE, FE College Principal & Chief Executive
Mary McHugh, National Board of Catholic Women of England and Wales
Hope Virgo, author, campaigner and Secretariat for the APPG for Eating Disorders
Rev Bev Thomas Ecumenical Minister & Social Justice Advocate
Rev Claire McClelland, Head of Chaplaincy, Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals
Rev Jenny Kimble, Dean of Undergraduate Studies, Regents Theological College
Rev. Michelle Nunn, Principal, Regents Theological College, and Member of Elim’s National Leadership Team
The Venerable Karen Best, Archdeacon of Manchester
Dr Anne Richards, Policy Adviser, Church of England
Revd Dr Hannah Lewis, Lead Chaplain among the Deaf Community, Diocese of Oxford
Janie Oliver, CEO, Stewardship
Dr Calida Chu, Associate Editor, Practical Theology
The Revd Jessica Monopoli, Assistant Curate, St Mary’s Cockerton, and Clergy Lead at The Haven in Darlington, Co. Durham
Bobbi Kumari, founder, Living in Light
Barbara Earl, Croydon Quakers
Danielle Finch, freelance writer (disability, family & faith)
Rev. Rebecca Amoroso, Hospital Chaplain
Christina Mottram, retired lay Catholic hospital chaplain, Leicester Hospitals
Salomé Criddle, CEO, Thriving Women In Real Life
Revd Dr Joanne Cox– Darling, Methodist presbyter
Anupama Ranawana, Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Theology and Religion, University of Durham
Danielle Wilson, Pioneer Pastor, Birmingham
Dr Claire Williams OMS, Lecturer in Practical Theology, Academic Inclusion Advocate, Regents Theological College
Reverend Joyce Fletcher, National Executive Director of Women and Family for the Church of God of Prophecy
Dionne Gravesande, trustee of Restored and co–chair, National Church Leader Forum
Dr Beverley Samways, Director, Unique Connections
Alianore Smith, member of the General Synod of the Church of England
Revd Novette Headley, Chair – Birmingham Methodist District
Colette Joyce, co–ordinator, Justice and Peace Commission, Diocese of Westminster
The Revd. Lis Goddard, vicar, St James the Less Pimlico
Doreen Patricia Waugh, domestic abuse practitioner, Justice and peace representative
Rev. Sarah Whittleston, National Elim Prayer Director
Dr Eve Poole OBE Lay Canon, York Minster
Revd Alexandra Lilley, Vicar, St George and All Saints Tufnell Park and Dean of Women’s Ministry
Michelle Dumont
Revd. Canon Kate Wharton, Vicar of St. Bartholomew’s Church, Roby, Liverpool, General Synod member, and Prolocutor of the Lower House of the Convocation of York.
Rani Joshi – South Asian Forum coordinator / Evangelical Alliance
Baroness Shaista Gohir – CEO, Muslim Women’s Network UK
This initiative follows a meeting organised in partnership with the Faith and Violence Against Women and Girls Coalition, and Restored, facilitated by Jewish Women’s Aid, and brought together by Theos.
For more information, see:
Addressing Spiritual Abuse in Ending Violence Against Women – Faith & VAWG Coalition
The Meaning of Dignity: What’s beneath the assisted dying debate? – Theos
