Lauren Edwards MP (Labour) has reintroduced assisted suicide to Parliament.
She has brought back the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill to Parliament in the same form as it passed through the House of Commons when put forward in the last parliamentary session.
The previous bill was amended heavily in the House of Lords with even its supporters recognising the need for better safeguards.
So why has Edwards brought it back in this form?
Because bringing it back in this form keeps open the possibility of using the Parliament Act to bypass the House of Lords.
That’s why it’s essential for MPs to reject the bill this time around. The bill’s second reading is on Friday 11 September.
We need to ask and persuade our MPs to oppose this deadly bill.
What to do
You can contact your MP using the details on the Parliament website.
Please use the information on this page to speak to your MP about this important issue.
Booking a constituency meeting is the best way to make a difference but writing a letter or email can also be effective.
Whatever you do, please use your voice to uphold life and protect vulnerable people with grace and conviction.
The big problems with assisted suicide
- Allowing assisted suicide means the state, along with doctors and nurses would be complicit in enabling suicide.
- Assisted suicide treats some people as ‘better off dead’ – it inevitably tells others undergoing suffering that suicide may be the answer for them too.
- Wherever assisted suicide is made legal in other countries, we see people choosing to end their lives because they fear becoming a burden to others.
- The right to die quickly becomes the duty to die – even if no one says so, vulnerable people will feel the pressure.
- End of life health and social care is expensive. This leads to perverse incentives – when suicide becomes an option, people who want to continue with treatment will start to be treated as if they are selfish or irrational.
- The creation of a state assisted suicide service would mean a significant shift in the relationship between healthcare professionals and patients – undermining the trust of the public that those caring for them are consistently seeking to preserve life.
The big problems with this bill
- There is no requirement in the bill for patients to be offered free access to palliative care. Prime Minister Andy Burnham has acknowledged that palliative care is not properly funded as things stand, and that therefore he doesn’t want to have this debate now. Everyone should be offered good palliative care rather than state assisted suicide.
- The flagship safeguard of the original bill, that approval was required by a High Court judge, was dropped and replaced by a volunteer “expert panel.”
- The bill’s supporters are trying to push the bill through at any cost using the Parliament Act. Its supporters in the House of Lords already admitted that changes were needed. It is only being brought back in this form to try to bypass the House of Lords and passing it without proper scrutiny. A vote for the bill at second reading keeps the door open to the Parliament Act later being invoked.
- Once a decision is made, what happens if someone changes their mind? Various testimonies show that people do change their mind.
- What does the term “terminal illness” actually mean?
The bill defines a person as terminally ill if:
For the purposes of this Act, a person is terminally ill if:
1. The person has an inevitably progressive illness or disease which cannot be reversed by treatment, and
2. The person’s death in consequence of that illness or disease can reasonably be expected within six months.
For the purposes of subsection (1), treatment which only relieves the symptoms of an inevitably progressive illness, disease or medical condition temporarily is not to be regarded as treatment which can reverse that illness or disease.
However:
- Life expectancy prognoses can often be unreliable.
- The definition could include conditions that become life-threatening because treatment is refused.
- Concerns remain regarding those with severe eating disorders.
- Hospices and care homes will have no right to opt-out of assisted suicide procedures, with even one MP arguing that hospices/care homes could lose funding, if they deny this “legal service”, as has happened in Canada.
- The examples of other countries prove safeguards are challenged and weakened over time – safeguards are not set in stone, the evidence is clear, nearly everywhere assisted suicide is legalised, the safeguards get extended:
- In the Netherlands, criteria has expanded to allow those suffering with mental health issues to take their own life.
- In Oregon, 43.3% of individuals citied “being a burden” as being the reason for seeking assisted suicide.
- In Canada, Kathrin Mentler, a 37-year-old Canadian from Vancouver, visited a hospital seeking help for her suicidal thoughts. Instead of support, she was asked “have you considered MAiD?”.
What the experts say
“…to introduce assisted dying while palliative care is underfunded and inequitably delivered, as is currently the case, brings evident and substantial risk.”
Simon Stevens, former Chief Executive of NHS England
“a legion of unintended consequences… such legislation is inherently unstable”
Sir David Haslam, former President and Chairman of the Royal College of GPs
“Notably the proposed mechanisms of decision making are not in line with good clinical and professional practice.”
Royal College of Physicians
“With too many unanswered questions about the safeguarding of people with mental illness, the College has concluded that it cannot support the Bill in its current form.”
Royal College of Psychiatrists
If you’re using AI…
Some people use tools like ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini to help writing messages.
If you do that, please be sure to:
- Tailor it as much as possible to your own experience. Sharing your own stories of how assisted suicide would affect you and your loved ones will show that you really mean what you are saying.
- Consider your own MP – which party are they in? What do they campaign on? Think about what arguments might be more persuasive to them and focus on them – don’t simply copy this whole guide into the tool and let it do all the thinking for you.
- Be sure to read the whole message carefully before sending it – ensure that you mean every word that you send to your MP and that it makes sense for you to be sending it to them.
Ask for help
If you have an opportunity to meet with your MP, if you have important information, or if you need help to take action, please use the form below – we will do our best to support you to stand for life.
And be sure us to join us on our Six Ways to Save Lives livestreams in the weeks leading up to 11 September – we’ll have up to date information, real life stories from those who’d be affected and more opportunities to act and pray to stop this deadly bill.