A historic debate begins over the legalization of assisted dying in England and Wales

LONDON — British lawmakers began a historic debate on Friday a proposal to help terminally ill adults end their lives in England and Wales, which divided the Parliament and the entire country.

For the first time in almost a decade, the House of Commons has the opportunity to vote on legalizing what some call “assisted dying” and others call “assisted suicide” – and it looks like it will be a close result.

Before the debate on the Terminally Ill (End of Life) Act, about 180 lawmakers said they would support the proposal, while about 150 said they would not. The remaining approximately 300 lawmakers either have not yet made a decision or have not revealed how they will vote.

The the discussion will be full of emotionstouching on issues of ethics, mourning, law, religion, crime and money. Many lawmakers plan to speak about their personal experiences, while others will focus on the impact on the state’s hard-pressed health service and how to protect the most vulnerable from exploitation.

About 160 members of Parliament expressed a wish to speak during the debate, but Speaker of the House of Commons Lyndsay Hoyle said it was unlikely that all would be given the opportunity.

“Let’s be clear, we’re not talking about a choice between life and death, we’re talking about giving dying people a choice about how to die,” the bill’s lead sponsor, Kim Leadbeater, said in his opening speech to a packed house.

As the debate began, supporters of both sides gathered outside parliament.

The controversial bill would allow adults with less than six months to live to request and receive end-of-life assistance, provided safeguards and safeguards are in place. They would have to be able to take lethal drugs themselves.

Lawmakers who have had emotional meetings with voters and are searching their souls are set to discuss an issue that crosses political boundaries.

Supporters say the new law will provide dignity for the dying and prevent unnecessary suffering, while providing enough protections to prevent people at the end of life from being forced to take their own lives. Opponents say it would put vulnerable people at risk, fearing that some will be forced to take their lives, and some elderly or disabled people may choose to die to avoid becoming a burden.

Voting for the bill would mean sending it to another round of hearings, during which it would be further scrutinized and voted on in both houses of parliament. If ultimately approved, it is unlikely that any new law will come into force in the next two to three years.

A vote against it would kill him.

It was the first time the Assisted Dying Bill was debated in the House of Commons since 2015, when a similar measure failed. Only about a third of its lawmakers are still in office.

Although the bill was proposed by a member of the ruling center-left Labor Party, it is an open vote, without pressure from the government to support it.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who has previously advocated assisted dying, said the government would remain neutral and would not reveal how it would vote. Some members of his cabinet have stated that they will support the bill, others are against it.

Former Labor Prime Minister Gordon Brown, along with three former Conservative Prime Ministers – Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Theresa May – publicly opposed the bill, even though they no longer sit in the House of Commons and cannot vote. It is supported by former Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron.

Under the proposed rules, only people who are over 18 in England and Wales and who are expected to die within six months can apply for assisted dying. They must have the mental capacity to make a choice about the end of their life and will be required to make two separate declarations of their wish to die.

Other countries that have legalized assisted suicide include Australia, Belgium, Canada and parts of the United States, with laws on who is eligible varying by jurisdiction.

Assisted suicide is different from the euthanasia allowed in the Netherlands Canadawhich involves healthcare workers administering a lethal injection at the request of a patient under certain circumstances.