Licence to kill?

James Mildred  |  Features  |  politics & policy
Date posted:  1 Aug 2019
Share Add       
Licence to kill?

photo: iStock

Assisted suicide could soon become legal in the UK. All the signs indicate that there will be another piece of legislation before MPs later in the year.

Since 2003, there have been more than ten serious legislative attempts at Westminster to change the law on this issue, but each one has failed. The most recent was September 2015, where MPs rejected the Assisted Dying Bill by 330–118. Given how much the House of Commons has changed since the last vote, the outcome of this next challenge is far from certain.

Having failed in the courts, the pro-assisted suicide lobby has switched its attention to the medical bodies. They know that a key argument employed in 2015 to persuade MPs to vote against the Assisted Dying Bill was the fact that all major medical bodies were opposed to changing the law to allow assisted suicide. But now the cracks in that stronghold have begun to appear.

Share
< Previous article| Features| Next article >
Read more articles by James Mildred >>
Comment
Beware the ‘optimism bias’ over assisted suicide

Beware the ‘optimism bias’ over assisted suicide

If you have ever done a driver’s awareness course (yes, this is autobiographical), there is a section where the instructor …

UK & Ireland
Assisted dying: a crunch vote approaches

Assisted dying: a crunch vote approaches

‘If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, try again…’ One politician who has taken this mantra to heart is …

Looking for a job?

Browse all our current job adverts

Search

Give a subscription

Our monthly newspaper is the perfect gift for those who love to think deeply

Give here