‘I want a choice’: Terminally ill women urge quick House of Commons vote on euthanasia

Two women with incurable cancer are urging Britain’s next Prime Minister to allow a vote on assisted dying in the first 100 days of the new parliament and free them from the fear of a painful death.

Sophie Blake, 51, a former Sky Sports reporter, and Helen Skelton, 56, a psychotherapist, who both have stage four cancer, said the next prime minister must make free voting a priority to prevent people having to choose between needless suffering, Dignitas in Switzerland, or committing suicide at home.

Both women, who have children, are allergic to opioids and fear the suffering they may face and their loved ones may witness. They were supported by a third woman, Kate Rasmussen, 42, who has been successfully treated for breast cancer but fears the cancer will return. Neither the Conservatives nor Labor promised a vote in their manifestos, despite both leaders signaling a willingness to change the law.

The women were all friends of Paola Marra, who had bowel and breast cancer and shared her journey to commit suicide in Switzerland with Guardian readers in March. Skelton said she may have taken her own life weeks or months earlier than necessary.

They spoke out to continue Marra’s campaign with the charity Dignity in Dying for legislation that would give terminally ill adults capable of making an independent choice, with the consent of two doctors and a judge, the right to die . More than 25,000 people have signed a petition calling for a full vote in parliament. Marra had this petition distributed after her death.

The women’s call for a snap vote came as former Supreme Court President Lady Hale this week criticised parliament for failing to deliver reforms.

Ten years since her court ruled in the case of Tony Nicklinson, who sought the right to commit suicide, she said it was “cruel and inhumane” to force people in this position to continue living against their will.

In 2012, Nicklinson, who described his life as “a living nightmare” after a stroke left him paralyzed from the neck down, lost a court case to be allowed to die with the help of a doctor. He died shortly afterwards after stopping eating.

In 2014, five of the nine Supreme Court justices held that the court could declare that the current law banning assisted suicide is incompatible with human rights. But three out of five said parliament should be given a chance to put things right first, while four said it was a matter for parliament alone.

Hale said this week: “Parliament has not put things right, despite all the evidence that the public would support a change in the law.”

But anti-assisted dying campaigners such as the group Care Not Killing are calling for a greater focus on palliative care, saying an assisted suicide law would “undermine the right to life and put vulnerable people at risk of pressure.” to end their lives. prematurely”. They fear that once the “right to die” is established, activists will push to expand the categories of people eligible, including people with mental health problems and children.

In March, Keir Starmer promised Esther Rantzen, the former TV presenter who has terminal cancer and wants the right to assisted death, that a Labor government would make time for a vote in the first parliament. He said he was “personally in favor of changing the law.” But the party disappointed pro-choice advocates when it, like the Conservatives, failed to include a voting pledge in its manifesto.

Rishi Sunak said this month that he was not opposed to changing the law on assisted death “in principle”. He said: “It’s just a matter of putting the safety measures in place and that’s what people have had questions about in the past.” The Tory manifesto said that “debates about assisted dying should never distract from the importance of delivering high-quality palliative care services”.

But Skelton said that by the time the legislation was “written, created and passed, it may be too late for me.” She said Labour’s inability to promise a vote was “incredibly disappointing”.

“The sooner it can happen, the more likely it is to benefit my death,” she said.

She said nothing would change the fact that she was afraid of dying and leaving her family behind, but legalizing assisted dying would allay fears about how that would happen. “I would feel free,” she said.

Blake said: “I am a single mother of a 17-year-old girl and I never want (my suffering) to be her last memory. I have a very close relationship with my mother and my sister. I don’t want either of them to be scarred and traumatised by my suffering. At this moment in time, terminally ill people are facing what could be the most horrific death, and (a change in the law) will give people peace of mind.”

Rasmussen added: “I just want to have the choice to decide for myself. I think it’s so cruel that we don’t have that. I think it’s discrimination because who can afford to pay £15,000 (the amount Marra spent to go to Dignitas)? I do not have that. And if the time comes when I don’t have that, what should I do? Should I try medicating myself? People end up in terrible situations that could have been prevented, because this is not yet legal.”