Archbishop Rowan Williams: assisted suicide could spell 'disaster' The debate heard of one case in the US in which an elderly lady was said to have chosen assisted suicide primarily because she wanted her money to go towards her grandchildren's education. Dr Williams said that the purpose of law itself was to protect vulnerable people and "exceeds its proper function" if it moves beyond that it. He drew direct parallels to the growth of abortion since it was introduced, with around 200,000 pregnancies a year now terminated in Britain. He said: "The default position on abortion has shifted quite clearly over the last 40 years and to seek a change in the default position on the sanctity of life would be a disaster." While Christians would not force dying people to "cling to life at all costs," he said that "every life in every imaginable situation is infinitely precious in the sight of God." "To say that there are certain conditions in which life is now legally declared to be not worth living is a major shift in the moral and spiritual atmosphere," he said. Dr Williams added: "What you are faced with here is a legal outcome in which protection is diminished not only for vulnerable individuals but also for the medical profession." The Bishop of Carlisle, the Rt Revd James Newcome, warned against a tendency to regard "life as disposable, a commodity like any other in our consumer driven society to be thrown away when it has supposedly gone wrong" He also rejected the argument that while suffering animals can be put down out of compassion people in great pain are not allowed to end their lives. He said: "A truly compassionate society will invest in high quality palliative care rather than lethal doses of poison - we are not the same as our animals."