MPs debate ban on assisted dying adverts

MPs are debating further changes to the assisted dying bill including a ban on organisations advertising that they offer the service.

Other amendments being discussed cover regulations about which substances or devices may be used to facilitate a person's death.

The bill would allow terminally ill adults with less than six months to live to receive medical assistance to die in England and Wales.

It was initially approved by MPs in November by a majority of 55 votes and has since been undergoing further scrutiny.

Since then at least a dozen MPs who backed it or abstained on the bill have said they are now likely to vote against it.

Supporters remain confident it will eventually clear the parliamentary hurdles and become law.

If the bill is approved at all stages in the House of Commons, it will then go to the House of Lords for further scrutiny.

The last time the bill was voted on, MP approved changes to ensure that no one would be forced to help with the process of assisted dying against their wishes.

Following concerns about an "anorexia loophole", the House of Commons also accepted an amendment which stated that a person should not be eligible for an assisted death "solely as a result of voluntarily stopping eating or drinking".

An amendment was discussed which would prevent medical staff from raising the option of assisted dying with a patient, however they ran out of time to vote on the subject, so it could be put to a vote today.

Labour's Kim Leadbeater, who proposed the bill, has tabled an amendment which says reasonable steps should be taken to to communicate in Welsh, if requested by the person seeking to end their life.

The Batley and Spen MP has another clause, which sets out how deaths should be recorded on death certificates.

If MPs have not finished discussing and voting on the amendments by 2:30 BST, another day of debate will be scheduled, probably on 20 June.

As with other stages of the process, protesters from both sides of the argument are expected to gather outside Parliament.

Disability campaigner George Fielding, from the Not Dead Yet UK campaign group, said the bill "risks state-sanctioned suicide".

"It risks making people feel like a burden while ignoring the social, economic and systemic pressures that deny people the treatment and dignity they need to live.

In a letter to MPs this week, Labour's Kim Leadbeater, said she was "confident" the legislation could be "the best and safest bill possible".