MPs were today warned about adverts for assisted dying appearing on TikTok as they continued their debate on proposed laws.
The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill is undergoing a second day of report stage in the House of Commons, with various amendments likely to be voted on.
The Bill’s third reading – when MPs will decide whether to approve or reject the overall Bill – could take place next Friday.
Opening Friday’s debate, Labour’s Kim Leadbeater – who is spearheading the Bill – proposed an amendment to impose a duty on ministers to ban adverts promoting assisted dying services.
But her fellow Labour MP Paul Waugh, an opponent of the Bill, warned of ‘unspecified exceptions, which could make the ban itself worthless’.
He told the Commons he had put forward a tighter amendment to ‘strengthen the Bill on this issue and to better protect the vulnerable’.
‘Many in this House rightly try to protect teenagers from online harms,’ Mr Waugh told MPs.
‘But the online harm of an ad for a website about assisted dying shared on TikTok could be a reality without the tighter safeguards in my amendment.’
Dame Harriett Baldwin, a Tory former minister and another opponent of the Bill, also backed an advertising ban.
‘Can you imagine a situation, you’re sitting watching a repeat episode of One Foot In The Grave and an advert runs for a funeral plan company,’ she said.
‘And then it’s followed by an organisation that’s offering to provide the services to make it easier for you to have an assisted death?’
Dame Harriett added: ‘Thinking ahead to the possibility that this Bill might go on the statute books.
‘I hope everyone participating in this debate will recognise that we should not allow the services of the organisations that will arise to provide this service to advertise on television, online, on posters, on TikTok, on any platform that our constituents may be seeing.’
Opening Friday’s debate, Labour’s Kim Leadbeater – who is spearheading the Bill – proposed an amendment to impose a duty on ministers to ban adverts promoting assisted dying services
But Ms Leadbeater’s fellow Labour MP Paul Waugh, an opponent of the Bill, warned of ‘unspecified exceptions, which could make the ban itself worthless’
Dame Harriett Baldwin, a Tory former minister and another opponent of the Bill, also backed an advertising ban
The Bill passed its second reading stage following an historic Commons vote in November, when MPs supported the principle of assisted dying by a majority of 55.
But, since then, a number of MPs have switched their stance on the Bill.
According to campaigners, 18 MPs who either supported the Bill’s second reading or abstained at November’s vote have now moved towards opposing it, while three MPs have switched the other way.
The Bill aims to allow terminally ill adults in England and Wales – with less than six months to live – to legally end their lives.
Earlier this week, more than 1,000 doctors wrote to MPs to demand they vote against the ‘unsafe’ legislation.
They expressed concerns that the Bill will ‘widen inequalities’ and ‘provide inadequate safeguards’.
The proposed legislation ‘does not protect against the risk of coercion, particularly for women and the elderly’, the letter added.
The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) and Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCPsych) have also expressed concerns.
RCP said there was not yet ‘adequate protection of patients and professionals’ in the Bill, while RCPsych said there were ‘too many unanswered questions about the safeguarding of people with mental illness’.
Campaigners opposed to assisted dying hold signs outside the Houses of Parliament last month
Groups in favour of assisted dying also gathered in Westminster in May
But some MPs who are doctors are among the Bill’s strongest supporters.
Meanwhile, seven RCPsych members – including a former president and vice president – have written to MPs to distance themselves from their college’s concern.
They instead described the current Bill as ‘workable, safe and compassionate’ with a ‘clear and transparent legal framework’.
Among other issues being debated by MPs on Friday is the regulation of substances to be used by a terminally ill person to bring about their death.
As it stands, the proposed legislation would allow terminally ill adults to apply for an assisted death, subject to approval by two doctors and a panel featuring a social worker, senior legal figure and psychiatrist.
MPs are entitled to have a free vote on the Bill and any amendments, meaning they vote according to their conscience rather than along party lines.
