What we are not campaigning for
We campaign to change the law on assisted dying for terminally ill, mentally competent adults. We believe that dying people should be able to control the manner and timing of their death.
We do not campaign to legalise assisted dying for people who are not dying, known as assisted suicide.
We do not campaign to change the law to allow doctors to end the lives of their patients, known as euthanasia.
We do not campaign to legalise assisted dying for people who do not have capacity to make the decision for themselves.
Some jurisdictions around the world have introduced assisted suicide and euthanasia laws. Parliaments in these countries passed these laws because they thought they were the right laws for their country. We believe an assisted dying law is the right law for the UK.
Assisted dying has worked safely in Oregon, USA, since 1997. Many other US States have followed Oregon’s example and have introduced similar laws. There have been no cases of abuse of assisted dying in the USA.
As well as campaigning to change the law on assisted dying we also support better end-of-life care which is accessible to all. We do not propose assisted dying to be an alternative to good quality end-of-life care, the two must go hand in hand.