We have been encouraging people to write to their MPs about the Assisted Dying Bill before they vote on it for the final time, as it is quickly moving towards becoming law in the UK. The next debate at Report stage is due Friday 13th June. The 3rd reading vote is likely to be 20th June or even into early July.
When writing to your MP, your personal stories and insights matter more than you might know. A supporter who is a mother of a child with Down syndrome has shared this moving letter with us, which we are posting here. We hope it will inspire you to share your own story too with your own MP.
“Dear [Member of Parliament],
I am writing to you about the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill introduced by MP Kim Leadbeater, and am asking urgently that you vote against this bill. I would like to share with you why it matters personally to me, and what worries me most about the direction we are headed in with this Bill.
When my daughter was born with Down Syndrome I was uncertain of what our lives would look like going forward. But I was certain that despite the surprise and adjustment of having a diagnosis at birth, it was better than having a prenatal diagnosis. Maybe I could have prepared better, or taken supplements proven to help babies with DS prenatally if I had known. But I also would have faced enormous pressure about the value of her life. The medical community proves over and over that it does not want people with Down Syndrome to live. A staggering percentage are not given a chance at life because they are aborted. The first thing expectant mothers are offered when they receive a prenatal diagnosis is an abortion.
This is a population of people that light up the world with their smiles, their joy, their kindness. Yet they had to beat the odds just to be born. But if they are lucky enough to be welcomed into their very lucky families, they are not welcomed so readily into society. I have to fight for my daughter to receive adequate medical care … there is nothing wrong with her, but the biochemistry of individuals with Down Syndrome is unique, and doctors often don’t want to take the time to research or educate themselves on the best care for this vulnerable population.
Now this precious group of people who actually survived past the womb despite persecution are facing the same persecution in adulthood. It is naive to believe that the very same medical community that is so reluctant to let them to be born wouldn’t be empowered by an assisted dying bill to do away with them when it’s convenient.
My little daughter is the heart and soul of our family … at two years old she has been fighting daily to make her milestones with the support and encouragement of her siblings. Her whole life she will have to work hard to keep up with her peers. But no one will surpass her in joy, in kindness, in generosity. But she should not have to fight at every stage of her life because of laws that make her vulnerable rather than protect her.
It is incredibly worrying that we are seeing a bill that doesn’t have any safeguards designed to protect people with Down Syndrome, and it doesn’t seem accidental. I am writing to ask you for the sake of many others like her, please do not give your support to this Bill. Please vote against it, because it will surely become another threat to the lives of people like my daughter.
Your sincerely,
Marie G.”
You can find out who your local MP is here: