Baroness Falkner, chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, made an emotional plea in the House of Lords to reject the Assisted Dying Bill on Friday, saying her personal experience of advanced ovarian cancer had changed her view on legalising assisted dying.
Speaking during a marathon first-day debate, Baroness Falkner told peers her remarks were "entirely personal" and described "glimpsing the Grim Reaper" while undergoing treatment for stage three ovarian cancer. She said she had received two rounds of chemotherapy, three operations and was on prolonged medication that left her in a "morphine-induced haze." She urged the Lords to reject what she called a "flawed" measure despite previously supporting the principle of assisted dying.
The life-and-death legislation returned to the upper chamber after the House of Commons approved the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill in June by a majority of 23. The private members' Bill would allow terminally ill adults in England and Wales with fewer than six months to live to request an assisted death, subject to approval by two doctors and a specially appointed expert panel. If it completes all parliamentary stages this year, the first assisted deaths could take place by 2029.
A record 190 peers were due to speak across a two-day Lords debate; 91 addressed the chamber on the first sitting, which ran six and a half hours without pause. Two-thirds of those who spoke opposed the Bill, according to participants. Former prime minister Theresa May told peers the measure posed a "catastrophic" risk to disabled people and others with chronic illness or mental health conditions and warned that "suicide is wrong" and that the Bill effectively treats it as acceptable.
Supporters, including Lord Falconer, the former Labour justice secretary who is steering the Bill through the Lords, argued it contains the most robust safeguards of any assisted dying measure worldwide and said peers should respect the decision taken by elected members of the Commons. "There are so many people who’ve been following the debate who recall the agonising death of a loved one, or... who fear what their own death might be like," he said.
Peers also raised concerns that legalisation could entrench the idea that some lives are worth less than others, a point Baroness Falkner emphasised, and warned the law could be misused to cover up medical errors. The EHRC has called for a more detailed assessment of how the proposed legislation would affect society’s most vulnerable, and disability advocates have repeatedly warned of potential harms.
Procedurally, the Bill will return to the Lords for a motion to agree to a second reading. If it clears that stage it would proceed through committee, report and third reading in the Lords, then return to the Commons for consideration of any amendments before Royal Assent. As a private members' Bill, it has limited parliamentary time and could be slowed or blocked by opponents tabling numerous amendments. If the Bill fails to complete all stages by the end of the parliamentary session next spring, it will fall and would need to be reintroduced.
Lord Jackson of Peterborough said the extent of opposition voiced in the debate made it "increasingly unlikely" the Bill would pass at third reading, adding that momentum appeared to be against it. Supporters would need to restart the parliamentary process unless the government chose to adopt the measure as government policy, a move considered unlikely at present.
Campaigners for and against the Bill have staged demonstrations outside Parliament during the summer as the Commons and Lords considered the measure. Advocates for change say the Bill provides autonomy and safeguards for terminally ill adults facing unbearable suffering; opponents counter that the safeguards are insufficient and that legalisation risks harming disabled and vulnerable people.
The Lords will resume its consideration of the Assisted Dying Bill on Friday, with further speeches and votes expected. The outcome in the upper house will determine whether the measure progresses through its remaining parliamentary stages this session.