Historic vote to legalize assisted dying in England and Wales is fast approaching – ABC 6 News

LONDON (AP) – There was a lively debate in the British Parliament on Friday a proposal to help terminally ill adults end their lives in England and Wales, which divided lawmakers and the country as a whole.

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 debate is lively, touching on issues of ethics, mourning, law, religion, crime and money, and is listened to and watched by hundreds of people on both sides of the argument who have gathered outside Parliament.

Lawmakers talk about their personal experiences and those of their constituents, while others focus on the impact on a hard-pressed national health service and the urgent need to improve palliative care.

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.

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.

“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.

She admitted it wasn’t an easy decision for lawmakers, but “if any of us wanted an easy life, we were in the wrong place.”

Danny Kruger, who led the argument against the bill, said he believed Parliament could do “better” for terminally ill people than a “national suicide service” and that it was the role of legislatures to ensure protection for the most vulnerable.

“We are the security of this place, this Parliament, you and me,” he said. “We are the people who protect society’s most vulnerable from harm, and yet we are on the verge of abandoning that role.”

Although the current bill was proposed by a member of the ruling center-left Labor Party, it is an open vote that has forged alliances that bring together those who are usually political enemies.

In essence, the bill would allow adults over the age of 18 who are expected to have less than six months to live to request and receive end-of-life assistance, provided safeguards and protection are in place. They would have to be able to take lethal drugs themselves.

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 and could be forced, directly or indirectly, to take their lives so they don’t become a burden.

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.

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. Kemi Badenoch, leader of the main opposition Conservative Party, said she would vote against it.

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. More than 500 Britons ended their lives in Switzerland, where the law allows assisted dying for non-residents.

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.

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