Protesters gathered outside Parliament on Wednesday morning as a new Bill on assisted dying was introduced to the House of Commons.
Under the legislation, people who are terminally ill would be able to end their lives “subject to safeguards and protections”.
A debate on the Bill next month will mark the first time the controversial issue has been voted on in the Commons in almost a decade.
Assisting suicide is currently punishable by up to 14 years in jail.
Members of campaign groups including Distant Voices, Christian Concern, the Christian Medical Fellowship and SPUC gathered in Westminster to protest against the Bill.
They carried placards reading “Kill the bill, not the ill” and placed paper gravestones with messages reading “Fifth leading cause of death in Canada” and “Netherlands: Euthanasia expanded to children of all ages”.
High-profile voices for change include Dame Esther Rantzen, who is terminally ill and revealed in December that she has joined Dignitas due to her fears around a drawn-out, painful death.
The Bill’s long title states that it would “allow adults who are terminally ill, subject to safeguards and protections, to request and be provided with assistance to end their own life”.
Labour MP Kim Leadbeater, who is behind the bill, said: “For some people palliative care is not going to ease their pain and suffering and they are asking for the choice to have an assisted death, and I think they should be given that choice.”
It is expected to face its first Commons test on November 29, the earliest date on which backbench bills can be considered.
An Ipsos Mori poll conducted last year found that legalising assisted dying is supported by up to two-thirds of Britons.
The policy has been adopted in different forms in recent years in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and some US states. It has been legal in Switzerland since 1942 and in the Netherlands since 2002.
But opponents argue that vulnerable sick people could be pressured into choosing assisted dying.
"For many of us, including many disabled people who would be impacted by these laws, it's not just worrying, it's terrifying," actor and broadcaster Liz Carr wrote on X.
The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has warned that introducing any form of legislation for assisted dying could lead to a “slippery slope” which widens the eligibility criteria.
He told the BBC: “I think this approach is both dangerous and sets us in a direction which is even more dangerous, and in every other place where it’s been done, has led to a slippery slope.”
Dr Gordon Macdonald, chief executive of Care Not Killing, said the Bill “sends a dog whistle message to the terminally ill, vulnerable, elderly and disabled people, especially those on low or fixed incomes that their lives are worth less than others” and has called for more focus on improving access to palliative care.
