You’ve been deceived by the campaign for assisted dying. It has told you who the proposed law is for: people on their metaphorical deathbeds, no hope in sight, desperate to spare themselves and their loved ones the experience of an agonising death. And no wonder – these cases obviously merit sympathy and concern. These are the people campaigners want to talk about; this is the narrative that pushes people into unquestioning support for their cause.
But what of the people the law would include who they don’t want you to consider? Proponents keep saying that the bill is tightly drawn to exclude disabled people, because it limits eligibility to those with only six months to live. But this is patently false. The line between disability and illness – a line this bill relies on – is not a sharp distinction. It is blurry, ever-moving and dependent on social factors far more than biological ones. This knowledge complicates the simple narrative the pro campaign is reliant on.
