Legislative proposals to give terminally ill people in England and Wales the choice to end their life are to be introduced at Westminster this month following the progress Thursday of an assisted dying bill in Parliament.
Left-wing Labour MP Kim Leadbeater is putting forward the bill and said “now is the time” to debate euthanasia, after MPs rejected a bill on the issue by 330 votes to 118 in 2015, the BBC reports.
Private members’ bills – which are proposed by backbench MPs rather than the government – rarely become law, but there has recently been growing momentum behind legalising assisted dying.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has previously promised to give Labour MPs a chance to vote with their conscience on the issue and has supported a change in the law himself.
The details have not been finalised but the bill is likely to be similar to a proposal in the House of Lords, which would allow terminally ill adults with six months or fewer to live to get medical help to end their own lives.
The bill is expected to be formally introduced on 16 October, with the first full debate likely to take place later this year.
It would have to be approved by MPs and peers before it becomes law.
Assisted suicide – intentionally helping another person to end their life – is currently banned in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, with a maximum prison sentence of 14 years.
Plans for similar, broader moves in Canada are on an indefinite delay after a push to expand Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) to patients with mental illness, but no physical ailments, were shelved in January, as Breitbart News reported.