Under the proposed legislation, terminally ill adults with less than six months to live would be given the right to pursue euthanasia
MPs have voted in favor of a historic and controversial bill that would legalize assisted dying in England and Wales for those with terminal illnesses and less than six months to live.
The House of Commons supported the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill with 330 votes in favor to 275 against on Friday, following more than four hours of debate and a years-long campaign by high-profile activists.
The proposed legislation would permit those with a terminal health condition and less than six months to live to die by taking a substance. The person must be deemed able to make the decision themselves and two doctors and a High Court judge must sign off on their choice. The bill would also make it illegal, with a maximum 14-year prison sentence, for someone to coerce or pressure a person into requesting assisted dying.
The bill still needs to clear further hurdles in parliament and will come before MPs again early next year. It will then need to pass through the House of Lords. If that happens, there will be a two-year implementation period before the option is available to people.
In 2015, an assisted dying bill was overwhelmingly rejected by MPs. Public opinion has since shifted significantly on the issue, however, with around three quarters of Brits backing the change, according to recent polling.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer and former Conservative PM Rishi Sunak both voted in favor of the bill. Health Secretary Wes Streeting and Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood were among those who opposed it.
Danny Kruger, a Conservative MP and prominent critic of the bill, said the law would amount to a “state suicide service.” Critics also argued that the bill was rushed through and that it includes insufficient safeguards for vulnerable citizens.
Under current UK law, it is a crime to help someone end their life in England and Wales, while performing euthanasia is considered murder or manslaughter.
One high-profile campaigner, BBC presenter Esther Rantzen, who was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, urged MPs to vote in favor of the bill, writing in an open letter that the issue will likely not come before parliament again “for another decade.”
“Under our current criminal law, the only choice for most people who are terminally ill, if they are facing an agonizing death, is between suffering, Switzerland or suicide,” she wrote.
Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Spain are among the few countries that allow assisted dying in various forms, in addition to some US states.
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