Less than half of people from ethnic minorities support the legalisation of assisted dying, a far lower proportion than among white people, due to stronger religious beliefs and fears of racial bias in healthcare, MPs have been warned.

Citing figures showing that black women are four times more likely to die during childbirth than white women, Chine McDonald, director of the Theos think tank, asked: “Can we really trust that, in an overstretched NHS, enough has been done to safeguard against racial bias in assisted dying?”

The Theos think tank focuses on “the place of religion in society”. In a letter to The Times, McDonald noted: “In recent weeks I have heard politicians, activists, writers and celebrities arguing in favour of assisted dying. I can’t recall any of them being black.”

She pointed to data from a poll of 2,011 people by the Nuffield Council on Bioethics which found that 75 per cent of white people supported the legalisation of assisted dying compared with only 43 per cent of black people.

Another poll, of 2,063 adults published by King’s College London, found that 66 per cent of white people supported the legalisation of assisted dying, falling to 46 per cent among those from ethnic minority backgrounds. It also found that 18 per cent of white people actively opposed the change compared with 35 per cent of nonwhite people, and that those from ethnic minority backgrounds were more sceptical of health service involvement. Seventy per cent of white people trusted the NHS to provide assisted dying, against 58 per cent of non-white people. McDonald’s letter concluded: “We need a far more nuanced conversation about the implications of assisted dying legislation in diverse communities such as my own.”