England and Wales assisted dying bill formally launched in House of Commons
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A bill to legalise assisted dying for terminally ill adults in England and
Wales has been formally introduced in the House of Commons, triggering what is
expected to be intense discussion over the coming weeks and months on an
emotionally charged and controversial issue.

MPs will hold their first debate on the Labour MP Kim Leadbeater's private
member's bill on 29 November. They will be given a free vote on the bill,
meaning they can vote according to individual conscience.

The text of the terminally ill adults (end of life) bill has not been
published, but its title states that it would "allow adults who are terminally
ill, subject to safeguards and protections, to request and be provided with
assistance to end their own life".

The bill is expected to propose that assisted dying be restricted to mentally
competent adults with six months or less to live, although a 12-month
prognosis is also a possibility. The details will be published in the coming
weeks before the Commons debate.

As Leadbeater introduced her bill, supporters and opponents of assisted dying
gathered outside parliament. Organisations opposed to changing the law on
assisted dying - including Christian Concern, the Christian Medical Fellowship
and the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children - called on MPs to "kill
the bill, not the ill".

Dr Gordon Macdonald, the chief executive of Care Not Killing, said the bill
"sends a dog-whistle message to the terminally ill, vulnerable, elderly and
disabled people, especially those on low or fixed incomes, that their lives
are worth less than others". He called for more focus on improving access to
palliative care.

My Death, My Decision, which campaigns for a change in the law, said the
introduction of the bill was a "significant and long-awaited step" to "end the
inhumane blanket ban on assisted dying". But it said the bill would exclude
most people with conditions such as Parkinson's, Huntington's and multiple
sclerosis from having the option of an assisted death.

Earlier, Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury, said the bill was
"dangerous" and that in "every other place where it's been done, [it] has led
to a slippery slope".

Leadbeater said such concerns would be invalid with the right legislation.
"We've got the benefit in this country of looking at what other countries have
done. And I'm very clear, based on what I've seen so far and the research that
I've done, that if we get this right from the start, which some places have
done, places like Oregon and certain states in Australia, we have very strict
criteria, then those jurisdictions do not broaden out the criteria," she told
ITV's Good Morning Britain.

If the bill clears its first hurdle next month, it will face line-by-line
examination in committee and further Commons votes before being sent to the
Lords where the process begins again. Any change in the law would not be
agreed until next year at the earliest.

A poll of more than 7,000 people this month found that almost three-quarters
agreed that adults "who are intolerably suffering from an incurable condition
and who wish to end their lives" should be allowed medical help to do so. It
was conducted by Electoral Calculus for Humanists UK, a campaign group that
supports assisted dying.



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