Content Warning: this article contains mentions of death, assisted dying, and suicide.

On Saturday 3 May, a group of campaigners for Dignity in Dying gathered at Manzil Way Gardens in Cowley to raise awareness of the progress of Kim Leadbeater’s Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill. The bill, which would legalise assisted dying for those with six months or less to live, is currently on the report stage in the House of Commons before the third reading vote on 13 June. While speaking to those gathered there, I gained a sense of the issues people in Oxford, as well as around the country, face while trying to ensure a compassionate death for their loved ones. 

Personal experiences are frequent motivators for those invested in the campaign to see assisted dying legalised in the UK. One campaigner, Catie Fenner (who shares her story online in the hopes of raising awareness around the issue), spoke about the difficulty of having to say goodbye to her mother, who suffered from motor neurone disease (MND), in the UK, before she travelled to Switzerland to have an assisted death with Dignitas, an organisation which provides assisted deaths. It would have been too dangerous for her and her sister to travel with their mother because of the risk of prosecution upon their return to the UK. Fenner ultimately found out about her mother’s death through a text message from her father, who is still at risk of prosecution for travelling to Switzerland with someone planning to end their life through assisted dying. 

Esther Floud spoke about the death of her husband, Philip Bagnall, who committed suicide after a years-long struggle with Parkinson’s disease. He was unable to access the costly and difficult process of applying to Dignitas.

However, this is not an issue exclusive to those who have a personal connection with it. Another campaigner, Jackie, has been involved with the cause for decades, motivated by reading about the case of Diane Pretty, who died in 2002 of MND after an extended legal battle with the European Court of Human Rights for her right to an assisted death in the UK. She spoke about the cause as one dedicated to a shared humanitarian issue, and highlighted the importance of remembering that we can never know whether one of our loved ones might have to face this difficult decision.

The group stressed the importance of avoiding international comparisons with countries such as Canada and the Netherlands, where assisted dying is available even for those not suffering from a terminal illness. In the UK, the bill currently passing through the Commons applies only to those with a prognosis of less than six months to live. A campaigner employed by the organisation instead brought up Australia’s recent legalisation of assisted dying for eligible individuals as a more suitable comparison. 

Those opposed to the legalisation of assisted death in the UK will sometimes stress the ability of people to travel abroad to obtain it. However, the Dignity in Dying campaign argues that this is difficult or flat out impossible for many. It is an expensive process, and anyone wishing to obtain an assisted death abroad has to get access to the relevant medical records in the UK without causing suspicion, a difficulty Catie Fenner spoke about in her mother’s case. Assisting someone in ending their own life carries a penalty of up to 14 years in prison in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. 

Though the issue of autonomy is at the centre of whether or not someone should be able to access an assisted death, it is ultimately something that will have to be agreed upon by the Houses of Parliament. Dignity in Dying chose to campaign in Cowley as the MP for Oxford East, Anneliese Dodds, voted against the bill in November. The group were keen to stress their desire to contact MPs, particularly if they are against the bill, as polls show that the British public are more in favour of the bill passing than the make-up of Parliament represents.

Assisted dying will always be a complicated issue, particularly because of fears that legalisation could mean that people who don’t want to become a burden on their families would choose an assisted death rather than treatment. Another worry is that the state of NHS healthcare would motivate people to instead choose an assisted death. Some disability rights campaigners also oppose assisted dying on the basis that it could be used against disabled people who are perceived as having a low quality of life. But, when hearing the story of someone seeing their mother for the last time as she got into a taxi to go to the airport to end her life, of having to wait and wonder whether their father would be able to make it back into the country without being arrested, I think we at least have to ask ourselves if there isn’t a better way.