Campaigners, those affected by the current status quo, and bereaved families supported by My Death, My Decision gathered outside Parliament this week to call for greater choice and compassion at the end of life. This comes as the Terminally Ill Adults Bill is expected to fall in the House of Lords on Friday.
The rally, held on Wednesday 22nd April, brought together individuals living with terminal illness alongside families who have supported loved ones through end-of-life decisions under the current law. Many attending have direct experience of the consequences of the current legal framework, including travelling abroad for a loved one’s assisted death or witnessing prolonged and painful deaths.
Supporters travelled from across the UK to attend, reflecting the strength of feeling at the Bill falling. Images from the rally show campaigners holding placards and photographs of loved ones, highlighting the real cost of inaction and the need for change.
Hannah Slater, a 38-year-old living with a terminal illness, attended the rally. She said:
“The Bill has already been passed by the elected House of Commons, and yet it now looks set to fall because a small handful of Lords have blocked it for months. That is not democratic.”
“I have stage four breast cancer, which has spread to my brain and my eye. I’ve already lost the vision in one eye, and I’ve lost so much independence, but I still want the chance to make the decision that feels right for me and my family.”
“I have a three-year-old son who I love very much, and I am very much invested in living for as long as possible. But I also want dignity, choice and compassion when that time comes.”
Dame Prue Leith, who is a Patron of My Death, My Decision and a campaigner for assisted dying reform, said:
“The House of Lords is there to scrutinise legislation and improve it, not to block it. What has happened to the Assisted Dying Bill is undemocratic and utterly disgraceful. A small handful of peers have flooded the process with amendments and run down the clock, leaving dying people to pay the price.
I became involved in assisted dying because I watched my brother die of bone cancer. He was in terrible pain and begging to die, but the doctors would not give him enough morphine because they were frightened it might hasten his death. He was dying anyway. I remember thinking: where is the compassion?
The Bill may fall this week, but this campaign will not. The public are behind this, and we will come back”
Dave Sowry, Co-Chair of My Death, My Decision, said:
“Almost a year ago we were in Parliament Square full of a sense of relief that the democratically elected House of Commons had had the courage to pass the assisted dying bill. Sadly we were back today as the Bill is about to be blocked in the House of Lords. They didn’t win the argument because the argument is on our side. They didn’t win any vote because they didn’t allow one to be taken. The truth is that the evidence is overwhelmingly on our side. Public opinion is overwhelmingly on our side.
But sadly, time is not on the side of the people here today, and those around the country who are faced with a terminal illness and won’t be able to benefit from a change in the law. It’s those people and others who have already sadly died, who could have benefitted from having the option of an assisted death, and those, like my wife Christy, who chose and was able to travel to Dignitas. It’s for those people that we gathered today.
We heard days upon days of debate in the House of Lords with hardly a mention of the people the Bill is designed to help. It’s those people’s voices who need to be heard. We will not be put off, we must not be put off. We will continue to fight for those voices to be heard and to fight for a compassionate law.”
Campaigners said the rally marks just one step in a continued push for reform, warning that without change, more families will be forced to endure the same experiences.
The Bill is expected to run out of time on Friday 24th April, with a small number of Peers blocking a change to the law on assisted dying. The sponsors of the Bill, supported by a number of MPs, are organising to bring the Bill back in the next Parliamentary session.
Notes to editors:
Media can use the following press images and videos, as long as they are attributed to “My Death, My Decision”.
For further comment or information, media should contact Kerry Hogan at kerry.hogan@mydeath-mydecision.org.uk or phone 07922363248. (media only)
My Death, My Decision is a grassroots campaign group that wants the law in England and Wales to allow mentally competent adults who are terminally ill or intolerably suffering from an incurable condition the option of a legal, safe and compassionate assisted death.
