The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, which sought to allow terminally ill adults in England and Wales with less than six months to live to choose to end their lives, is set to fall this Friday. The effort has run out of parliamentary time to complete the stages required for it to become law.
Although the bill was supported by MPs and passed in the House of Commons, it failed to clear its stages in the House of Lords. A small group of peers proposed hundreds of amendments, which helped stymie the legislation and prevent its progress.
The failure has sparked anger and frustration among campaigners on both sides of the debate. Supporters, including terminally ill people, have accused a handful of unelected peers of deliberately blocking and sabotaging the bill.