Officially called the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, the proposed government-sponsored euthanasia bill has been mired in controversy, yet it passed three votes in the House of Commons after being introduced by Labour MP Kim Leadbeater on 16 October 2024. The controversies continue as it is debated in the House of Lords.
The House of Lords debate on the euthanasia bill last Friday centred on concerns around possible coercion, a lack of adequate safeguards and not enough time for such controversial legislation to be properly scrutinised. Labour peer Lord Falconer is sponsoring the controversial bill in the upper chamber.
Ahead of the debate, the equalities watchdog, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (“EHRC”), added to the growing number of institutions that have grave concerns about the Bill. In advice to members of the House of Lords on 8 September, the EHRC said more detail is needed on how the Bill could affect people from different backgrounds and those with disabilities.
The EHRC also raised concerns around the “great difficulty of accurately determining how long someone with a terminal illness will live.”
In her advice to the Lords, EHRC chairwoman Baroness Kishwer Falkner raised concerns about the method through which the Bill has been brought to Parliament – as a Private Member’s Bill rather than Government-backed legislation.
“We believe that a Private Member’s Bill is an unsuitable vehicle for such significant legislation, because it is not subject to the same pre-legislative scrutiny that a Government-sponsored draft bill would have undergone, with expert evidence considered earlier in the process,” Baroness Falkner said....<<<Read More>>>....
