Terminally ill people join forces with Rankin to urge MPs: “Back the Bill Again”
- Campaign includes two 60-second films and a series of intimate interviews amplifying the voices of eight terminally ill people fighting for choice at the end of life. The first video can be found in this Guardian article
- New polling reveals 7 in 10 people want assisted dying debate to continue until Parliament reaches a decision, with 6 in 10 agreeing the Government should act to facilitate this.
Today, Dignity in Dying launches a major new campaign created in collaboration with celebrated British photographer and director Rankin, featuring dying people from across the country united in their message to MPs: “Back the assisted dying bill again and finish what you started”.
It comes as the new parliamentary session begins, with backbench MPs preparing to enter a ballot this Thursday to bring a bill of their choice; many already signalling their intention to bring the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill back and see it through to its democratic conclusion. Despite MPs passing the bill last June after more than 100 hours of scrutiny and debate, it ran out of time to become law after a handful of Lords deliberately obstructed its passage, in what is widely accepted by parliamentarians and experts as constitutional vandalism.
Sarah Wootton, Chief Executive of Dignity in Dying, said:
“Every week, dying people are left with the same cruel options: suffer, travel abroad to die, or act alone. From Noah, only 19 and forced to confront his death far too soon, to Barbara, who now faces the same limited options her late husband did after being diagnosed with the same disease. Dying people will not be silenced”
“This is bigger than assisted dying. MPs voted for compassion. Unelected peers with their own agenda tore down our democratic principles. Parliament has unfinished business, and it’s time for MPs to return the bill to Westminster and finish what they started.”
The films combine deeply personal testimony with a broader message echoed by new polling: behind every dying person is a nation believing in choice.
Conducted by Opinium, new polling shows strong public backing for Parliament being able to see the Bill through to its democratic conclusion. Nearly seven in ten people (69%) say the debate should continue until Parliament reaches a decision, while 61% think the Government should act to ensure MPs and Peers have enough time to consider and vote on the Bill so it can complete all its stages and become law.
The campaign features eight people living with incurable conditions that are either currently terminal or will ultimately reach that stage, aged from 19 to 77, speaking candidly about pain, autonomy, fear, family and the urgent need for greater choice at the end of life. Through two powerful short films and a series of in-depth interviews, contributors ask MPs to “finish what they started” after they voted to pass the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill last June, but it ran out of time to become law after a handful of Peers in the House of Lords caused deliberate delays and prevented conclusive votes. .
Participants include 19-year-old Noah Herniman from Chepstow, Wales, who is living with an inoperable brain tumour, and 69-year-old Barbara Shooter from North Oxfordshire, who was diagnosed with motor neurone disease after supporting her husband through his own diagnosis of the same illness, and subsequent assisted death in Switzerland.
Rankin directed the films and photographed participants as part of the campaign, which he is providing pro bono. It comes two years on from his viral film with terminally ill campaigner Paola Marra, released the day after she died on her own terms at Dignitas in Switzerland; a journey she’d made alone to protect loved ones from prosecution, in order to avoid a painful, prolonged death from bowel cancer.
Rankin said:
“When you listen to people facing the end of their lives talk about what they’re going through, the need for change becomes impossible to ignore. These films are about giving terminally ill people a platform to speak directly and honestly – as human beings from all walks of life, at the end of life, asking for dignity, compassion and choice.”
The first film released today opens with the line: “Yep. I’m terminal.” It builds into a collective appeal about both end-of-life choice and democratic accountability, ending with the message: “Together, we can finish what we started. It’s time to back the bill again.”
The second film, which will be released later this week, is aimed directly at MPs and constituents, reminding parliamentarians that they voted for choice and compassion and must now finish the job.
Noah Herniman, 19, said:
“I’ve had to think about death since I was 15. All I want is the reassurance that if my condition gets worse, I’ll have a choice about how my life ends. That choice should belong to me.”
Barbara Shooter, 69, said:
“I watched my husband travel to Switzerland after his MND diagnosis because he wanted control and dignity at the end of his life. Now I have MND too. Nobody should be forced to leave the country or spend thousands of pounds just to have choice at the end.”
Other contributors include campaigners living with terminal cancer, motor neurone disease, secondary progressive MS and advanced lung disease. Contributors are: Noah Herniman (19), Jenny Carruthers (58), Elise Burns (52), Barbara Shooter (69), Keith Williams (77), Sophie Blake (53), and Maddie Cowey (28).
The campaign launches ahead of the 21 May Private Members’ Bill Ballot, ramping up pressure on MPs to finish what they started and deliver choice for terminally ill adults. Expectations are high that the Bill shepherded through the Commons by Kim Leadbeater MP will be reintroduced by another MP after the Ballot. If it is supported by MPs a second time and returned to the Lords in the same form, Peers would be unable to block the Bill twice under the Parliament Acts
ENDS
For more information/requests please contact Georgina O’Reilly, Media and Campaigns Manager at georgina.oreilly@dignityindying.org.uk or 07768438258.