Please or to access all these features

Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

2nd reading of Assisted Dying Bill - 11 September 2026

373 replies

IwantToRetire · 04/09/2026 17:50

Write to your MP - Share the MRP polling and ask them to oppose the assisted dying Bill

Despite its many serious flaws being repeatedly exposed in the House of Lords in the previous session and the ongoing warnings of medical Royal Colleges and groups representing vulnerable people, the assisted dying Bill has been reintroduced to Parliament by Lauren Edwards MP.

Assisted death regimes across the world bring with them an inherent risk of grave harm to vulnerable women. The Other Half and other campaigners, academics and experts have highlighted this risk consistently, and it is profoundly frustrating that our concerns have so far fallen on deaf ears, with Lauren Edwards reintroducing essentially the same Bill as the one which failed to pass in the previous parliamentary session.

By introducing a virtually identical Bill, Lauren Edwards has paved the way for the Bill to pass through unamended, and for the Parliament Acts to be used in order to bypass scrutiny from the House of Lords and for the Bill to become law with its flaws intact.

Polling conducted on behalf of The Other Half has shown that the public overwhelmingly does not view this Bill as a priority for MPs, and the new Prime Minister has also been clear that addressing existing failings in palliative and social care should take precedence over any consideration of assisted dying.

There are specific dangers in the Bill, highlighted in the previous parliamentary session, which Lauren Edwards has chosen not to address: these include the removal of coronial investigation, the lack of a requirement for families to be informed about an assisted dying application, and the omission of specific protections for domestic abuse victims/survivors.

Only 12 MPs need to change their minds from how they voted in the previous parliamentary session for the new Bill to fail. We can win and make sure this Bill is thrown out, with your help.

We are asking you to write to your MP to highlight your concerns and ask them to make sure that Lauren Edwards’ new assisted dying Bill is stopped at Second Reading on 11 September.

Every vote will count, and it takes just 60 seconds to contact your MP. Please take action today.

https://www.writeonad.theotherhalf.uk/
(Not sure how effective it is to use a web generated standard letter.)

See more about The Other Half https://theotherhalf.uk/

Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill 2026-27
https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-12181/

Write to your MP - Stop the new assisted dying bill

The threat of this bill and the harm it will do to vulnerable women is such that the bill must be voted down at Second Reading on 11 September. The safeguards are inadequate; the bill is not safe.

https://www.writeonad.theotherhalf.uk

OP posts:
Thread gallery
13
McSilkson · 17/09/2026 04:47

Your premises are spurious. As for the first, cannibalism is not that uncommon among mammals. Chimpanzees, our closest relatives, have been known to practise it. And it was a traditional practice among numerous indigenous populations, including those of New Zealand and Papua New Guinea.

As for the second:

"Humans are smarter than other animals. Yes, we've seen startling examples of animal intelligence in unexpected species (the piano-playing octopus), but they aren't designing the Sydney Harbour Bridge. When we choose to take responsibility for caring for a non-human animal, we make decisions within the law for that animal, just as we would for a small child."

Completely disagree. "Intelligence" is subjective. Judging the "intelligence" of other animals by skills and faculties that humans value and compete in, such as piano-playing and bridge-building, but which would have no use to other animals, is setting them up to fail and viewing them through a narrow, anthropocentric worldview. It's a completely rigged game. But, of course, those in power are always the judges of what is "valuable", and of which qualities make some other group "worthy" - or not - of equal consideration.

In an athletic competition between men and women of similar athleticism, women will always fail, because men and women are different, and have different abilities. Many men have used this difference, among others, as justification for their treatment and dominance and "custodianship" of women. Another key long-supposed difference, highly relevant to this discussion, has been "intelligence". And, indeed, according to your examples, women come up short. Far less acclaimed/exceptional piano-playing in women's history, and certainly far less bridge-designing!

Henry Higgins sang, "Why can't a woman be more like a man?" (He also included the age-old tropes about female intelligence.) And all you're really saying is that what is "good" and "valuable" is what humans can do, and that non-humans inevitably can't be or act like a human and are therefore not as good/valuable/"intelligent". It's a circular argument, resting on a presumption of human exceptionalism. In a word, it's speciesism.

Maybe you can play a piano. But can you thread a spider's web? Can you tell the difference between the sounds made in the grass by mice and rats from hundreds of metres away? Can you communicate in bird "song"? Can you paint with all the colours of the wind?

I'll give you your bridges, but non-human animals build dams, hives, ant hills, spider webs, and plenty of other structures of complexity, functionality and "beauty" (again, subjective). And their designs have often been mimicked and incorporated by humans.

The best general working definition of "intelligence" is the ability to perceive and understand and adapt to environments. By that definition, every form of thriving animal life is equally intelligent. In fact, you could argue that humans' "ability" to not only adapt to and shape their environment, but to also go a long way towards destroying that very environment, makes us singularly unintelligent as an animal life form. Have any other animals made environmental conditions so inhospitable for themselves through their own activity?

And I couldn't care less what the law says, per se. Not about non-human animals, and not about anything. Lest we forget on this women's rights board that the law currently holds that a person may "legally" (and, in its view, "morally") change their sex via a Gender Recognition Certificate. Bah! The law is a human creation, designed to promote the interests of the applicable human society, and especially its ruling class. And human society is built on and takes for granted the use and exploitation of non-human animals. We may as well consult human law on the laws of physics and the origin of the universe, for all it has to reveal about the essential nature of non-human animals!

CornishDaughteroftheDawn · 17/09/2026 07:55

6ate9 · 04/09/2026 21:59

@SylvanMoon “But since you think we should kill off people with complex health needs because we can't afford them, then I doubt you'll be concerned about anyone other than yourself.”

I was stating facts. I would like assisted dying to be available in case I want it. I don’t care what everyone else does. It’s an individual choice.

At least you’ve come clean about your mind blowing level of selfishness. Thankfully, most of society consider the impact of such things on others, especially the vulnerable and have decided against giving the state the power to kill.

Interestingly, it is attitudes like yours that demonstrate why we can NEVER go down the road of state assisted suicide.

I’m interested in your reasoning as to why you want only over 18s to be able to go this - why do you exclude children from this?

ArabellaScott · 17/09/2026 07:58

selffellatingouroborosofhate · 16/09/2026 22:37

You won't be aware of it though.

It doesn't comfort me any to know that I am breathing air containing molecules that were previously part of CatOfHate.

I am sorry about your cat.

ArabellaScott · 17/09/2026 08:16

It should be possible to create legislation that considers all the issues raised wrt abuse, coercion, slippery-slope, palliative care, social pressure, etc.

Safeguards should be at the absolute forefront of a Bill like this; the foundation of the whole thing.

But until all those many issues are addressed we cant even get to the question of whether it should be allowed, ever.

It's the same approach of righteousness and arrogance to lawmaking that we are becoming familiar with - creates appalling messes and has terrible consequences.

Divisive subjects like this cant be bulldozed through on a fucking PMB, designed by an inexperienced MP, and dismissively ignoring all critique and dissent. What a total shitshow.

I'd put Brexit and the Scottish GRR Bill in the same category.

Wishesandhorses · 17/09/2026 08:17

It's the open, uninhibited, 'I want it, so I don't care what happens to anyone else or how many others suffer' thinking that really convinces me, again, we are not currently mature enough or responsible enough as a population or society to be trusted with this option at all.

ArabellaScott · 17/09/2026 08:31

Maybe I'm naive in thinking that skilled legislators and qualified medics should be able to come up with something based on rock solid principles that upholds basic tenets like 'murder is wrong' while allowing for compassionate euthanasia.

Grammarnut · 17/09/2026 11:39

ArabellaScott · 17/09/2026 08:16

It should be possible to create legislation that considers all the issues raised wrt abuse, coercion, slippery-slope, palliative care, social pressure, etc.

Safeguards should be at the absolute forefront of a Bill like this; the foundation of the whole thing.

But until all those many issues are addressed we cant even get to the question of whether it should be allowed, ever.

It's the same approach of righteousness and arrogance to lawmaking that we are becoming familiar with - creates appalling messes and has terrible consequences.

Divisive subjects like this cant be bulldozed through on a fucking PMB, designed by an inexperienced MP, and dismissively ignoring all critique and dissent. What a total shitshow.

I'd put Brexit and the Scottish GRR Bill in the same category.

Brexit wasn't done by a PMB, but by the will of the sovereign people. Not in same category as Scottish GRR or this bill either.

Grammarnut · 17/09/2026 11:40

ArabellaScott · 17/09/2026 08:31

Maybe I'm naive in thinking that skilled legislators and qualified medics should be able to come up with something based on rock solid principles that upholds basic tenets like 'murder is wrong' while allowing for compassionate euthanasia.

Yes, you are naive. They can't because it is an ethical question which is horrendously difficult.

Grammarnut · 17/09/2026 11:46

selffellatingouroborosofhate · 16/09/2026 00:36

We test drugs on animals before people because animals are property and people aren't. That is also the legal basis for euthanising animals.

We also, as controllers of the animal's lives, have a moral obligation to decide for the animal that treatment is futile or would be unjustly cruel and it's time for lights-out.

By contrast, we are morally obliged not to decide for another human that they should die, and we are additionally strongly encouraged to prevent them from dying. The law supports this by prohibiting murder and refusing to penalise "good samaritans" acting to try to help someone.

You are comparing apples with oranges.

That's not the only thing @Selfseedpoppies is doing. They have decided that collateral damage doesn't matter as long as they have what they want. Long ago I read 'The Man who was Thursday' by GK Chesterton. In it (it it's the right book) Thursday flies with a man he thinks is Christ, over the world, noting the suffering resulting from a revolution (or other cataclysm brought about by humans). Thursday protests and 'Christ' replies that the suffering is sad but necessary for the greater good. At which point Thursday realises that the man is not Christ but the opposite. I think the reference might be to the horrors of communism under Lenin and Stalin - which I have seen called worthwhile since literacy increased etc. No-one good suggests that getting something they want is worth the suffering of others they know nothing about.

Grammarnut · 17/09/2026 12:18

LipglossAndLies · 16/09/2026 14:57

Except the bill was for people to administer the medicine themselves the assisted bit is getting the right medication and giving it to the person. Hence why its called assisted.

And you think the doctors involved in deciding if assisted suicide is appropriate, and who prescribe the pills, won't be affected by doing this? Doctors already have high rates of drug abuse, burn out. Not sure about suicide statistics for doctors, but apparently vets (who have to kill animals every day) do have high rates. Ordering a human's death is equally traumatising, at the least.

CornishDaughteroftheDawn · 17/09/2026 12:39

HomericEpithet · 15/09/2026 22:45

Watching all the different safeguarding amendments being voted down, one after another.

When I saw MPs refusing to pass an amendment forbidding doctors from raising assisted suicide unprompted with people with learning disabilities, and refusing amendments requiring people with learning disabilities to get extra support, I managed to add 1 and 1 together.

This deserves repeating. The pro assisted suicide lobby scuppered it themselves with their blatant disregard for and rejection of safeguards.

As others have said, the playbook is exactly the same as when passing the GRA - dismiss all reasonable objections and potentially harmful scenarios, then everyone is ‘surprised’ when all the predictions are realised (and more).

If those desperate to ram this through at all costs are this blatant about their disregard for safeguards - how bad will it get once they have their way? If they learn from this and become more circumspect about their intentions in the future I think we should regard them with deep suspicion.

moto748e · 17/09/2026 12:58

Isn't it more a matter of, MPs just don't analyse and interrogate legislation as they are supposed to? I'll bet most of them had made up their minds how they were voting before they'd even heard the details. "This amendment was made by the bad guys. So we'll vote against it". But the nett result is the same anyway.

Jane3212 · 17/09/2026 13:03

TotaleclipseinFrance · 16/09/2026 14:30

I agree.
Those wanting this (what I believe to be mythical) peaceful death, have no thought about the psychological impact this may have on the medical staff.

They appreciate that the person who may find their body if they commit suicide may be affected but not the doctors and nurses who effectively have to carry out the procedure.

It's really unnatural for a person to take another person's life.
They either do it as they've snapped through years of abuse, are psychopathic/sociopathic or been brainwashed into it.

I don't think they've thought for one second how this may affect the medical staff.
What kind of person would want to be tasked with making a judgement on a person's life, anyway?
I think it would attract those with a degree of psychopathy.

The more I think about it the more I'm convinced it is the pro-assisted dying group who are the selfish ones.

In the Netherlands doctors are able to refuse assisting a suicide but they still report high psychological burdens, unsurprisingly. In Switzerland doctors have to do less but I'd suspect it still takes a toll, I will look up.

I'd like to know more about the effect on elderly people of assisted suicide in those 2 countries.

Jane3212 · 17/09/2026 13:07

McSilkson · 17/09/2026 00:45

A lot of dishonest language in this post.

First of all, non-human animals are not "put to sleep". They are killed - albeit for what we take it upon ourselves to consider "good" reasons (and often these reasons involve our own convenience and comfort and even finances). We can debate about whether this a morally acceptable practice, but let's call a spade a spade. However, non-human animals typically have no say in the matter, unlike the many human animals who explicitly desire and ask to be euthanised.

"Humans are not the same as animals." No comparison is necessary, because humans ARE animals. Consult any serious biology textbook or dictionary. That false dichotomy does damage to both non-human and human animals (though more so the former). The real difference is that we have the power - derived largely from technology and from our numbers.

"I love animals but we don't treat them as ethically or legally the same." That's deriving an "ought" from an "is". Various classes of human animals have been, and continue to be, treated as not ethically or legally "the same", i.e., inferior, including the entire female sex class in many parts of the world today. Society upholds all sorts of legal fictions - generally convenient to those in power. But people cannot change their sex, no matter the laws or the ethical arguments. And humans ARE animals.

It's scary to me how many people cannot comprehend basic biological truths. And how many people have such a need to hold themselves superior to other animals. It seems some people must always find some type of being to feel superior to...

Edited

I think this is unfair. I want animals to be treated well but how far do you want to go? Should it be illegal to eat animals? Should killing an animal be regarded as as serious as murder? Should owning a pet be seen as akin to slavery, as you 'own' them?

Jane3212 · 17/09/2026 13:09

selffellatingouroborosofhate · 17/09/2026 02:09

  1. Humans are mammals. Most mammals treat conspecifics differently from other animals, particularly in respect of food. Cats don't usually regard other cats as dinner. In treating each other differently, with higher regard, from other animals, humans are acting like most other mammals. We aren't being unreasonable with this behaviour.
  2. Humans are smarter than other animals. Yes, we've seen startling examples of animal intelligence in unexpected species (the piano-playing octopus), but they aren't designing the Sydney Harbour Bridge. When we choose to take responsibility for caring for a non-human animal, we make decisions within the law for that animal, just as we would for a small child.

From those two, all else follows: housing CatOfHate, taking him for medical exams when he didn't want to be taken there, treating him for worms (he hated that too), and finally arranging for a qualified professional to kill him as quickly and kindly as possible when he developed metatastic lung cancer. All reasonable actions to take for a creature who cannot make his own informed decisions, who is legally and morally of a lesser status than a human, and who I had a duty of care towards.

The only one of those things you wouldn't also do for a small child is the killing, and that's because, like most other mammals, we hesitate to kill conspecifics in a way that we don't with non-conspecifics.

Non-human animals endure considerable harm because of how humans treat them, sometimes with good cause and sometimes not. The legal principle that killing non-human animals is sometimes OK allows for the poisoning and killing of rats (a necessary evil for public health), the gassing of day-old male chicks by egg farms (harder to justify), and the euthanasia of a beloved pet (very easy to justify, people would call me cruel if I hadn't done that)

Extending that principle to people will result in harm to at least some people, just as it already causes harm to many non-human animals. That so many informed stakeholders objected indicates that the harm would have been widespread and substantial.

Good post.

'Cats don't usually regard other cats as dinner. In treating each other differently, with higher regard, from other animals, humans are acting like most other mammals. We aren't being unreasonable with this behaviour.'- that's my view. I don't think humans are better because we're smarter or more powerful. I just think we should look out for our own species first

. I've seen worrying posts here where people have said they would save the life of their dog over an unrelated child. I know it's hypothetical, but disturbed me.

Jane3212 · 17/09/2026 13:12

Grammarnut · 17/09/2026 12:18

And you think the doctors involved in deciding if assisted suicide is appropriate, and who prescribe the pills, won't be affected by doing this? Doctors already have high rates of drug abuse, burn out. Not sure about suicide statistics for doctors, but apparently vets (who have to kill animals every day) do have high rates. Ordering a human's death is equally traumatising, at the least.

Exactly. The articles from Dutch doctors about doing it (most GPs there do it once, sometimes more, though they can refuse) show the toll it takes.

Jane3212 · 17/09/2026 13:12

moto748e · 17/09/2026 12:58

Isn't it more a matter of, MPs just don't analyse and interrogate legislation as they are supposed to? I'll bet most of them had made up their minds how they were voting before they'd even heard the details. "This amendment was made by the bad guys. So we'll vote against it". But the nett result is the same anyway.

Good point

CornishDaughteroftheDawn · 17/09/2026 13:33

LipglossAndLies · 16/09/2026 12:17

And what method do you propose is a peaceful pain free one? Drug overdose? If you can get the right drugs and right amount how mnay know that. Otherwise whst other options are there.

You appear to have made the mistake of assuming that being killed by a doctor will be peaceful and pain free. That’s not always how it works.

Look at the difficulty they have in executing people painlessly in America.

ArabellaScott · 17/09/2026 13:38

moto748e · 17/09/2026 12:58

Isn't it more a matter of, MPs just don't analyse and interrogate legislation as they are supposed to? I'll bet most of them had made up their minds how they were voting before they'd even heard the details. "This amendment was made by the bad guys. So we'll vote against it". But the nett result is the same anyway.

This is certainly a factor.

However, I think the fact that many changed their minds over the course of the bill, as it became clear the huge gaps and shortcomings, and more and more bodies refused to support it, suggests that many had thought carefully about it and decided they couldn't support it as there were so many issues with it.

The majority of people do support the principle of assisted dying/euthanasia.

The fact that this bill failed doesn't mean the issue is finished with, and I expect eventually it will become legal in some form.

With that in mind, I think it would be sensible to consider what the risks are and consequences both intended and unintended, and look at ways to minimise risk and ameliorate harm.

CornishDaughteroftheDawn · 17/09/2026 13:39

TotaleclipseinFrance · 16/09/2026 14:30

I agree.
Those wanting this (what I believe to be mythical) peaceful death, have no thought about the psychological impact this may have on the medical staff.

They appreciate that the person who may find their body if they commit suicide may be affected but not the doctors and nurses who effectively have to carry out the procedure.

It's really unnatural for a person to take another person's life.
They either do it as they've snapped through years of abuse, are psychopathic/sociopathic or been brainwashed into it.

I don't think they've thought for one second how this may affect the medical staff.
What kind of person would want to be tasked with making a judgement on a person's life, anyway?
I think it would attract those with a degree of psychopathy.

The more I think about it the more I'm convinced it is the pro-assisted dying group who are the selfish ones.

That reminds me of the Canadian doctor who specialised in killing people for MAID and was totally unhinged worryingly enthusiastic about her job.

I worried for any patient of hers who has a last minute change of heart - I didn’t get the impression that she’d stand for that.

ArabellaScott · 17/09/2026 13:41

Grammarnut · 17/09/2026 11:39

Brexit wasn't done by a PMB, but by the will of the sovereign people. Not in same category as Scottish GRR or this bill either.

I know Brexit/GRR weren't PMBs. My point was broader - that legislation, based on emotive reasoning rather than logic, drafted in a hurry and pushed through with a lot of propaganda doesn't lead to good decisions or good law.

ArabellaScott · 17/09/2026 13:44

Medical staff had for years 'helped people along' with high doses of painkillers, fwiw. Shipman largely put an end to that.

CornishDaughteroftheDawn · 17/09/2026 13:45

LipglossAndLies · 16/09/2026 21:20

I’m on a discussion forum to share a viewpoint, not to run a campaign. I don't need to 'get anywhere.'
You want to talk about bargaining away lives? The opposite of that is bodily autonomy and human dignity. The current law literally forces dying people to suffer at all costs just to satisfy someone else's moral checklist.

The current law literally forces dying people to suffer at all costs just to satisfy someone else's moral checklist.

As this ‘moral checklist’ equates to ensuring that vulnerable are not prematurely killed then I think it should hold pretty significant weight - no?

SylvanMoon · 17/09/2026 14:30

CornishDaughteroftheDawn · 17/09/2026 13:33

You appear to have made the mistake of assuming that being killed by a doctor will be peaceful and pain free. That’s not always how it works.

Look at the difficulty they have in executing people painlessly in America.

And, of course, no one subjected to this doctor-led suicide will be able to tell us if it's painless or not!

HomericEpithet · 17/09/2026 17:13

Why did the Leadbeater committee vote down the amendment mandating that applicants be informed about side-effects of the drugs used, including pain?

Why did they vote down the amendment mandating that the drugs used must have MHRA approval?

2nd reading of Assisted Dying Bill - 11 September 2026
2nd reading of Assisted Dying Bill - 11 September 2026
Swipe left for the next trending thread