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- British lawmakers give initial approval to a bill allowing terminally ill adults to end their lives in England and Wales
British lawmakers give initial approval to a bill allowing terminally ill adults to end their lives in England and Wales
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MPs in the House of Commons have voted to legalize assisted dying in the first vote in nearly a decade, with 330 votes in favor and 275 against. The private member's bill, sponsored by Keir Starmer, Rachel Reeves and Angela Rayner, would give terminally ill adults with less than six months to live the right to die.
I am very sorry that I and others didn't persuade enough others to win, but what really did come across is everyone agrees we need to improve palliative care, which is my main concern.
True dignity consists in being cared for to the end.
I really believe that Labour got elected because the NHS is such a mess… we've got to sort the NHS out before we go down this route.
Parliament is tearing itself in two over this.
MPs are showing signs of stress, having to make this decision in such a short time frame… It's occupying everybody's complete thoughts.
I have serious concerns about the bill currently before parliament. I do not believe it fully addresses the complex realities of a legal right to assisted dying.
Let's be clear, we're not talking about a choice between life or death, we are talking about giving dying people a choice about how to die.
Today's vote still leaves the question of how this could be implemented in an overstretched and underfunded NHS, social care and legal system.
You can't cure death. Please make it fear free.
Those who don't want an assisted death and don't want to take part in providing assisted dying can opt out of it, don't have to do it, don't choose to end their lives that way. So it offers everyone equal choice, whatever their religion.
The tragic truth is that no matter how excellent the palliative care is, it cannot prevent some kinds of suffering, fecal vomiting for example, or suffocating to death, or deep-rooted agony.
Under our current criminal law the only choice for most people who are terminally ill, if they are facing an agonising death, is between suffering, Switzerland or suicide.
We ask the Catholic community to pray that members of parliament will have the wisdom to reject this bill at a later stage in its progress.
End of Life
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sources
- 1.The Guardian
- 2.The Times
- 3.Le Monde
- 4.The New York Times
- 5.The Washington Post
- 6.CNA News
- 7.Al Jazeera
- 8.Daily Sabah
- 9.CNN
- 10.France 24
- 11.CTV News
- 12.Agence France-Presse
perspectives
countries
- 1.Australia
- 2.Belgium
- 3.Canada
- 4.Switzerland
- 5.Spain
- 6.France
- 7.United Kingdom
- 8.Netherlands
- 9.New Zealand
- 10.United States
organizations
- 1.Labour Party
- 2.House of Commons
- 3.Conservative Party
- 4.House of Lords
- 5.National Health Service
- 6.Dignitas
- 7.Liberal Democractic Party
- 8.Catholic Church
- 9.Dignity in Dying
- 10.Green Party
- 11.Humanists UK
- 12.Nuffield Trust
persons
- 1.Keir Starmer
- 2.Danny Kruger
- 3.Kim Leadbeater
- 4.Wes Streeting
- 5.Rachel Reeves
- 6.Tim Bale
- 7.Angela Rayner
- 8.Esther Rantzen
- 9.Kemi Badenoch
- 10.Shabana Mahmood
- 11.David Lammy
- 12.Rishi Sunak