Former Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson appeared on ITV's Lorraine on Wednesday morning to discuss the personal reasons she now supports the assisted dying law that is being debated at UK Parliament today.
The Scottish politician engaged in a personal discussion with fellow Scot Lorraine Kelly about the reasons individual to her as to why she has changed her mind on the assisted dying debate.
Speaking on the daytime programme, Ruth said: "There's always one vote that you have in your political career that you're torn completely about.
READ MORE - Edinburgh mum 'forced to go into pub' after McDonalds staff refused her 10p bag
"At the time, I voted against it because it wasn't very well-drafted, and I was able to vote it down on the text, and not engage on the issue, and I always felt that I did wrong by doing so.
"It was cowardice actually, to not engage fully on the issue, and the reasons at the time for me were informed a lot by my church and my faith, who were against it."
Ruth also discussed the fact that her sister is an NHS doctor, and that nurses and doctors were "well ahead of the sphere in this decision" at the time.
She continued: "Last year, the British Medical Association dropped their opposition into assisted dying, two years after the Royal College of Physicians did as well, nurses were miles ahead of everybody, they made the decision ten years ago."
Ruth also discussed her own personal reasons, and spoke about her same-sex marriage to Jen Wilson who she now has a four-year-old child with called Finn, through IVF.
The 43-year-old said: "In light of my own personal situation, I'm in a same-sex relationship, we had my son through IVF, and there's so much choice at the beginning of life.
Sign up for Edinburgh Live newsletters for more headlines straight to your inbox
"And the idea within my faith, the church says nothing about 50,000 Brits that use IVF every year but you can pick the donors eye colour, you can pick the day you want to have your child etcetera, there's so much agency and control.
"And yet, we offer nothing to people in unbelievable pain, who are dying about how they can make decisions."
Lorraine was in agreement with Ruth during the discussion, replying: "That's so true, actually, I hadn't really thought about it in that way, from cradle to grave, there is all of that attention in the beginning, but quite rightly so.
"Babies are born in lots of different ways to lots of different families, and that's a positive. But, the end of life is difficult, the arguments have always been either faith-based, or it's been like 'Oh, this could be abused in power'."
Ruth added: "You've got to make sure you have safeguards, we also know a lot more than we used to, there are laws about assisted dying in countries that have 200 million people living in them. Countries like Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands, Switzerland, Canada."
Ruth also added that the UK, as a country, are capable of following in the footsteps of these other countries, and keeping the law in place for those who need it.
The law on assisted dying will be discussed at UK Parliament today, but is not a direct attempt at legalisation, but an attempt to facilitate a decision, after years of fruitless attempts to get a private members bill through.
The idea is that the government would produce a legally watertight text which the Lords and Commons could consider and vote on.
Lorraine viewers also agreed with Ruth on this matter, with one Twitter user saying: "I’ve so much more respect for @RuthDavidsonPC on @lorraine #lorraine this morning discussing #assisteddying a topic which so many including myself agree with. #itstimetotalk #letsdothis"
Another said: ".@RuthDavidsonPC elegantly explaining how Lord Forsyth’s amendment simply breaks the deadlock on @dignityindying in Westminster.
" Opponents to choice in dying prefer the rigged system where no private member’s bill can succeed without Government time. #YesToDignity #Lorraine"
And a third wrote: "#Lorraine listening to #ruthdavidson talking about assisted dying. We must do more to make this a reality. I watched my husband die in pain from cancer and wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy."
Lorraine continues every weekday on ITV from 9am onwards.
