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Hundreds to rally outside parliament for historic assisted dying vote

Brits from across the UK urge MPs to Vote YES for compassion, safety and choice at the end of life

Time and location: Parliament Square, Westminster at 9am on Friday 29th November 2024

Hundreds of people, including terminally ill individuals, bereaved families, and supporters from across the UK, will gather outside Parliament on Friday 29 November to demonstrate their support for Kim Leadbeater MP’s Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill as it reaches its Second Reading debate. The Bill proposes that terminally ill, mentally competent adults should have the choice of assisted dying. This debate will be the first time MPs have voted on assisted dying in nearly a decade.

The demonstration, set to be the largest of its kind, will take place in Parliament Square from 9am. Supporters with personal experience of suffering under the ban on assisted dying, Dignity in Dying spokespeople, medical professionals and high-profile supporters will be available for interview. Supporters will be displaying placards and banners calling on MPs to vote for choice, safety, and dignity at the end of life. The event will highlight the enormous widespread public support for assisted dying reform and the urgent need to end the suffering caused by the current blanket ban.

Introduced by Kim Leadbeater MP, the Bill, which has been co-sponsored by a group of cross-party MPs, provides the most detailed, robust proposal on assisted dying reform that Westminster has ever considered. The outcome of the Second Reading vote will determine whether the Bill progresses to Committee Stage for further scrutiny and debate. If passed, it would legalise assisted dying for terminally ill, mentally competent adults and make it the most regulated end-of-life practice in the world.

Every year in the UK, despite the best palliative care more than 6,000 people die in untreatable pain, scores of others are forced to travel abroad at great cost, and hundreds feel as though they have no other option than to take their own lives, often afraid and alone. The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill offers a compassionate and regulated alternative, building on best practice from countries where assisted dying is proven to work safely.

The bill builds on findings from the Health and Social Care Select Committee’s 14-month inquiry, which concluded that assisted dying laws for terminally ill people overseas are safe and often lead to holistic improvements and investments in end-of-life care. The committee noted that no such jurisdiction has repealed or expanded its criteria since implementing such legislation.

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For interview requests please contact Joseph Crook at Dignity in Dying at joseph.crook@dignityindying.org.uk or 07356 135578