U.K. lawmakers back assisted dying bill that would allow terminally ill adults to choose to end their lives

London – After hours of passionate debate, British legislators in the House of Commons voted on Friday to adopt a bill which would allow adults on the terminal phase in England and Wales to choose to end their lives. The bill was adopted by 23 votes, with hundreds of protests concerning the question of division outside the Parliament, on both sides of the debate.

The Terminal Adults Bill (end of life) will now undergo months of control by the Lord Chamber, the upper room of the British Parliament. The Lords, who are not elected, can debate, delay and modify the bill, but they have little power to block the legislation adopted by deputies elected to the House of Commons.

The central principle of the bill is that adults over the age of 18 who are deemed to have less than six months to live could – after a series of backup checks – being provided to end their lives, in the form of fatal drugs that they could self -administer.

In November, British legislators gave initial Approval to the new lawPassing through 330 votes to 275 – a wider margin which indicates that certain deputies changed their mind before the vote on Friday.

Since the first vote, the initial bill proposed by the legislator of the Labor Party Kim Leadbeater has undergone several changes, in particular the drop in a provision which would have forced a judge to sign any final decision granting a medically assisted death. The current bill requires that any request be approved by two doctors and a panel which includes a social worker, a higher legal figure and a psychiatrist.

In a debate before Friday vote, Leadbeater told Parliament about the many stories she had heard from people who saw friends and family suffer from traumatic deaths.

“Not supporting the bill today is not a neutral act. It is a vote for the status quo,” she said, according to the Associated Press. “And that fills me with despair to think that the deputies [Members of Parliament] Could be here in 10 years more hearing the same stories. “”

Leadbeater and other supporters of the bill argue that people with terminal diagnoses should have the right to choose to continue to live. They quoted stories of people who commit themselves in secret because no one could legally help them.

They also argue that it is not just that people with enough money can currently seek life care by going to Switzerland. More than 500 British ended their lives in Switzerland, where foreigners can opt for assisted death.

Opponents argue that the elderly or disabled could be manipulated – openly or secretly – to end their lives, save money or to relieve a burden perceived for dear beings. Others say that the end of life and health care would be a better alternative.

Friday, outside the parliament, the demonstrators were faced with contrasting slogans. Some wore clothes for the sentence: “campaign for dignity by dying”, while opponents organized banners qualifying the national health service managed by the United Kingdom State, the “National Suicide Service”.

The vote opens the way to what could be one of the greatest changes in social policy in the United Kingdom since the partial legalization of abortion in 1967.

If the bill adopts the Chamber of Lords, it should take another four years to be fully implemented.