A terminally ill campaigner has said she would be “completely devastated” if the assisted dying Bill was blocked by peers in the House of Lords.
Hundreds of demonstrators – both for and against the proposed legislation – gathered outside Parliament ahead of the first Lords debate on the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill on Friday.
As peers took their seats in the unelected upper chamber, campaigners held placards showing their passionate stances on a divisive issue.
There is not expected to be a vote on the Bill at this stage, with a further day of debate due to be held next Friday.
A group associated with the campaigning organisation Dignity in Dying held banners with faces of loved ones and sang chants of “yes to choice, yes to dignity”.
Elise Burns, from Faversham, said she is hopeful the Bill will eventually pass into law.
The 51-year-old said she has secondary cancer of her lungs, liver and bones.
Asked if she was worried about the Bill being blocked, she said: “I would be completely devastated if that were to happen, it’s the will of the people, plus the will of the elected MPs”.
She said she had heard rumours of measures being used to “try and time it out” but said change to the current law is “urgent”.
She said: “It’s going to be too late for me, but not for hundreds of people in the future, if not thousands of their families”.
She added: “I would love (peers) to look me in the eye and tell me why me and my friends, and anyone with terminal illness, don’t deserve to die with dignity and to have the choice to die as they choose, without pain”.
Opposite the Lords, some people with terminal illnesses, and their family and friends, stood outside in opposition to the Bill.
Storm Green, 27, from Plaistow, was joined by her father Cecil Harper, 64, who was diagnosed with cancer and given just two years to live back in 2019.
Both said they are against the Bill being passed.
Ms Green pleaded with peers to make “good law” and warned the current Bill could leave those who feel they are a burden vulnerable.
She said: “We want to live in a country that has good law, that encourages people to thrive, that encourages people to contribute to society, to feel valued by the people around them, and I think ultimately this Bill encourages a deaf culture of some sort.”
She added: “Unfortunately, in a lot of cases, some people feel like they are burdened and that they don’t really have a choice.”
Echoing this, her father Cecil said: “It may affect their mind in the fact that, ‘My life’s not worth living anymore, I might as well go down that route because there’s a choice I didn’t have before’.”
He said people can make “bad decisions” if they are “in the depths of depression and a lot of pain”, adding: “This law shouldn’t be passed, it shouldn’t even be an issue.”
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