A Labour MP’s latest bill to legalise assisted suicide has been called a “major threat”.
Kim Leadbeater, Labour MP for Spen Valley, has announced she will likely be tabling an assisted suicide bill within the House of Commons.
The bill is predicted to be tabled on 16 October. Right to Life UK, which opposes assisted suicide, said it was now “very likely” that a vote on the difficulty could be held in Parliament before Christmas.
The query of whether terminally ailing people in England and Wales can end their lives with medical assistance was last debated in Parliament in 2015, when the proposals were defeated.
Announcing her plans, Leadbeater said that “now could be the time” for a fresh debate. The bill would wish to pass in each the Commons and the Lords to turn into law.
Catherine Robinson, spokesperson for Right to Life UK, said that opposing the plans was going to be a “very big battle”.
She is encouraging people to learn on the difficulty by watching the BBC documentary “Better Off Dead?”, which sees actor and disability rights advocate Liz Carr travel to Canada to see how the legalisation of assisted suicide has worked on the market.
Assisting an individual to take their very own life is a criminal offence in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and carries a jail sentence of as much as 14 years. There is not any specific crime of assisted suicide in Scotland but helping someone to finish their life may result in a prosecution for culpable homicide.Â
Dr Gordon Macdonald, head of Care Not Killing, which opposes assisted suicide, said: “I might strongly urge the federal government to give attention to fixing our broken palliative care system that sees up to 1 in 4 Brits who would profit from the sort of care being unable to access it, fairly than discussing again this dangerous and ideological policy.”
Baroness Grey-Thompson told the BBC she was against Leadbeater’s plans due to concerns “concerning the impact on vulnerable people, on disabled people, coercive control, and the power of doctors to make a six-month diagnosis – but additionally the time and capability they should be sure it’s someone’s settled wish”.
