UK lawmakers vote to ban assisted dying ads

LONDON: British MPs on Friday backed a ban on adverts for assisted dying if proposed UK legislation allowing terminally ill people to be helped to die becomes law.

Protesters both for and against the bill gathered outside parliament, as lawmakers debated the contentious proposals for legalised euthanasia currently making their way through parliament. Opening the debate, the legislation´s sponsor MP Kim Leadbeater proposed an amendment that would require the government to introduce regulations banning advertisements promoting assisted dying services.

Lawmakers backed the amendment alongside another preventing health professionals raising the subject of euthanasia with child patients. MP Paul Waugh said he feared private companies could “profit from death”, arguing unsuccessfully for even tighter restrictions to prevent adverts than Leadbeater. “The online harm of an ad for a website about assisted dying shared on TikTok could be a reality” for teenagers without the very tightest of restrictions, he said.

The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill is at the report stage of the lengthy parliamentary process where lawmakers can propose amendments. The bill would allow assisted suicide in England and Wales for adults with an incurable illness who have a life expectancy of fewer than six months and are able to take the substance that causes their death by themselves.