British lawmakers give initial support to assisted dying Bill
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Activists from the Dignity in Dying campaign group campaigning in London in favour of the Bill, on Nov 29.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
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LONDON - Britain’s Parliament voted in favour of a new Bill to legalise assisted dying on Nov 29, opening the way for months of further debate on an issue that has divided the country and raised questions about the standard of palliative care.
After a passionate debate in the House of Commons, the Lower House of Parliament, 330 lawmakers voted in favour of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill with 275 against.
Outside, dozens of opponents gathered, holding signs that read “Kill the Bill, not the ill” and “Care not killing”, urging MPs to vote against the proposed legislation.
A nearby gathering in favour of the legislation saw people dressed in pink holding placards with slogans such as: “My life, my death, my choice.”
Under the Bill, mentally competent, terminally ill adults in England and Wales who are assessed by doctors to have six months or less left to live would be allowed the right to choose to end their lives with medical help.
Those in favour of the Bill say it is about shortening the death of those who are terminally ill and giving them more control.
But opponents say vulnerable ill people may feel they should end their lives for fear of being a burden to their families and society, rather than for their own well-being.
Others expressed concern there had not been enough time to consider the Bill before voting.
The initial parliamentary vote in favour of the Bill will start months of further debate and the Bill could be changed as it wends its way through both the House of Commons and Britain’s Upper House of Parliament, the House of Lords.
Ms Kim Leadbeater, the Labour lawmaker who introduced the Bill, has said she expects the process to take a further six months.
The proposal has stirred a national debate in Britain, with former prime ministers, faith leaders, medics, judges, the disabled and ministers in Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour government weighing in on the subject.
The House of Commons last debated, and defeated, a euthanasia Bill in 2015, but public support for giving terminally ill people the choice to end their lives has since shifted in favour, polls show.
Ms Leadbeater said the law needed to catch up with public opinion.
A change in the law would see Britain emulate several other countries in Europe and elsewhere that allow some form of assisted dying. REUTERS, AFP
