Eighteen years on from the House of Commons' last legislative debate on assisted suicide, MPs will tomorrow (Friday 11 September) consider the principles of Rob Marris's Assisted Dying (No. 2) Bill.
The time for writing to MPs has passed (although we certainly wouldn't discount the value of a last minute e-mail or phone call to your MP's Westminster office, asking them to attend tomorrow's debate and vote against the Bill) but there are three key ways to be a part of these important next 24 hours:
Read up
Make sure you know the issues, the arguments and the evidence. All too often, we are reluctant to challenge people's conclusions, but our opposition to assisted suicide is both reasoned and compassionate, and we know that the more informed people are, the more they question the claims of 'assisted dying' advocates. Read material at the Care Not Killing website, including: the Bill itself; the guides we have distributed amongst MPs; and the briefing prepared for MPs by the House of Commons library which is likely to be a key point of reference for tomorrow's debate.
Speak out
One good way you can put the evidence before an all-too-often uninformed public is to share the infographics we have been posting to social media this past week. These offer snapshots of the case against assisted suicide, and we ask you to share one or more of these on your own account(s) in the next 24 hours. Head over to our Twitter and Facebook pages for a look, now. (If you post about the Bill or the wider debate on Twitter, please be sure to use the #supportnotsuicide hashtag.)
Stand tall
Tomorrow is set to be dry and sunny with highs of 21°C - perfect weather for a rally. Join us from 8:30am by the statue of George V, opposite the House of Lords in Westminster. We expect a vote at around 2:30pm, and in between, we'd like you to be part of the walking, talking case for better care and support for terminally and chronically ill and disabled people. Watch short videos of demonstrators from last July explaining what brought them out onto the streets - and then follow their lead.
All these little things add up, contributing to a bigger picture of opposition based upon personal and professional experience, evidence from other jurisdictions and an understanding that we can and should do better when it comes to end of life care.
