County campaigners lead protest against making assisted dying legal
Campaigners from Shropshire were today leading a protest in London against legalising assisted dying.
It came as West Midlands MP Rob Marris's Private Member's Bill calling for terminally-ill individuals to have a choice over their end-of-life care was discussed and voted on in Parliament.
Campaigner Nikki Kenward and her husband Merv today led hundreds of protesters, including members of their group Distant Voices, to urge MPs to vote against the bill.
Their protest included a huge puppet of a judge holding a syringe to represent their strong feelings against the issue.
Mr Marris, the Labour MP for Wolverhampton South West, says he wants to see terminally ill individuals have a choice over their end-of-life care. The issue crosses party political lines and MPs across Shropshire and Mid Wales have taken opposing stances on the topic.
Mr Marris's proposal is essentially the same as the Assisted Dying Bill introduced by Lord Falconer last year, which ran out of time before the General Election.
It would mean those with less than six months to live, who are of sound mind and a settled opinion, would be allowed to ask for a lethal prescription of drugs. There would, of course, be safeguards, including the need for two doctors and a judge to agree before someone could be given assistance to end their life.
Mrs Kenward, 62, of Aston-on-Clun, was fully paralysed by an illness for more than five months and is now in a wheelchair. But now she's embroiled in a struggle, along with her husband, to make sure assisted suicide remains illegal.
Speaking to the Shropshire Star ahead of the protest, she said: "We have been expecting around 200 to 300 people from different campaign groups including ours to join the protest. We have been busy lobbying MPs to vote against this bill.
Campaign group Dignity in Dying says one person a fortnight goes to Dignitas in Switzerland from the UK to end their lives.
The Suicide Act 1961 makes it a criminal offence to assist or encourage suicide. Today's protest began at 9am and the Commons vote was expected to be held at 2pm.
