British lawmakers have taken a major step toward legalizing assisted dying, voting 330 to 275 in favor of a bill that would allow terminally ill individuals to end their lives.
The decision, reached after an extended debate in the House of Commons and a years-long advocacy campaign, positions the UK to potentially join a select group of nations that permit the practice.
The bill now moves to the House of Lords and parliamentary committees for further approval.
The legislation would enable individuals with a terminal condition and less than six months to live to administer a life-ending substance, provided they are deemed mentally capable of making the decision.
Approval from two doctors and a High Court judge would be required to proceed.
This development, if finalized, would make the UK one of the largest countries by population to legalize assisted dying.
Currently, jurisdictions such as Canada, New Zealand, Spain, several Australian states, and certain U.S. states, including Oregon and California, allow some form of assisted dying.
Debate over the proposal deeply divided MPs, who were granted a free vote to act according to their conscience.
Esther Rantzen, a BBC presenter with advanced lung cancer and a prominent advocate for the bill, highlighted the urgency of the issue in an open letter to MPs.
“Under our current criminal law, the only choice for most people who are terminally ill, if they are facing an agonizing death, is between suffering, Switzerland, or suicide,” Rantzen wrote.
Having publicly shared her own consideration of Switzerland’s Dignitas clinic, she urged lawmakers to seize the rare opportunity to enact change.
“This will probably not come before Parliament as an issue to debate for another decade,” she added. “How many more will be forced to suffer until then?”
Source-CNN
