I read in the Adver on Thursday, February 21 that a local peer, Lord Joffe of Liddington, had put forward a private member's bill in the House of Lords proposing the legalisation of voluntary euthanasia.

In recent months you've carried other reports from the pro-euthanasia perspective so I thought it was time that someone with a contrary view put their head above the parapet.

First of all, let me be clear about where I am coming from I believe in the sanctity of human life and so I am wholly opposed to Lord Joffe's position on euthanasia. However I want to take the opportunity to caution your readers who might be tempted to agree with Lord Joffe when he talks about a 'right' to choose when one dies, and who can't see the harm in that 'right' being enshrined in law.

The problem is that such things never quite work out the way that most of the supporters envisage. How long would it be before that 'right to choose' degenerated into a matter of convenience, or rather, inconvenience?

We've not got a good track record of looking after our old folk in this country; in other cultures they are much more valued and respected. If euthanasia was allowed, how long would it be before pressure was put on elderly relatives who are a practical or financial burden, to 'help' themselves and their relatives by choosing a quick, painless and early death?

If euthanasia were legalised how long would it be before 'the greater good' argument swayed some relatives, a government, the medical profession, into easing the burden by ending lives that they regard as no longer worthwhile, i.e. not 'contributing'?

The pro-abortion people often talk about babies in the womb as being 'just a bundle of cells', though the truth is the baby's heart is beating by day 21. How long would it be before elderly folk were regarded as 'just a bundle of bones'? Beware of people proposing easy solutions, like Lord Joffe. They beckon us onto the road to hell.

Ian Donaldson

Rochford Close

Grange Park, Swindon