Good afternoon
Last Wednesday we hosted the most well-attended All Party Parliamentary Group for Choice at the End of Life meeting ever. We’ve had really positive feedback from MPs who attended and we want to use this event as a springboard for more sustained engagement from MPs.
You can make this meeting a turning point for MPs’ engagement with assisted dying. Although a lot of MPs attended, many more need to hear our case for change. You can reach them by sending them the recording of this meeting and encouraging them to listen to these intensely personal and moving accounts for themselves.
Hearing from Australian Minister Jill Hennessy gave newly supportive MPs an opportunity to hear how the law works in practice - crucially that the safeguards written into the law work.
MPs also witnessed the heartbreaking contrast between Sher Safran’s moving account of her parents, both of whom had peaceful assisted deaths under Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act in 2017, with Joy Munns’ experience of her mother being arrested and tried for murder for supporting her husband to have the death he wanted here in the UK.
The impact of personal stories cannot be underestimated. Munira Wilson MP said that she was “instinctively against assisted dying” but is now “very much leaning towards pro” having listened to those most affected by the current ban.
Your MP could be next. Make sure they have the opportunity to see the shift in the tone of this debate today.
As Jill Hennessy said at the meeting,
“We need to see the courage and tenacity of law-makers to reform the inhumanity of the status quo”
Move your MP to action today - ask them to watch this meeting.
I’ll be in touch soon with some more info on engaging your MP on assisted dying, whatever their stance.
P.S. Missed the APPG meeting? Watch it here to see the campaign in action.
