Theresa May has opposed the Assisted Dying Bill, saying she believes it does not have the safeguards in place to prevent people from being pressured to end their lives.
Speaking in the House of Lords on Friday (12 September), Baroness May said the legislation, which was debated in the Second Chamber for the first time, could result in people ending their lives “because they feel they are a burden on others”.
The former prime minister said she worries about the bill’s impact on people with disabilities and mental health problems as "legalising assisted dying reinforces the dangerous notion that some lives are less worth living than others”.
She said that the legislation, which would make assisted dying available to adults in England and Wales with a terminal diagnosis of less than six months to live, could also be used to “cover up mistakes made” in medical care.
