A group of medics, disability campaigners and faith leaders have urged undecided MPs to reject a bill that would make assisted dying legal.
They warn there are “numerous problems” with Labour MP Kim Leadbeater’s Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, including possible coercion and the “strain” the change would place on judges and the court system.
“We urge MPs who share these and other concerns not to abstain, but to vote against this proposal,” they say.
The call has been backed by Abdul-Azim Ahmed, the secretary general of the Muslim Council of Wales, Tanni Grey-Thompson, the peer and Paralympian, and consultant and member of the House of Lords Ilora Finlay, among others.
The group recently wrote a book on the subject The Reality of Assisted Dying: Understanding the Issues.
Supporters of the Bill include the former prime minister Lord Cameron and two former health secretaries, Andy Burnham and Matt Hancock.
But it is opposed by ex-PMs Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Gordon Brown, among others.
If passed, it could lead to the largest social change in Britain in more than five decades, since the legalisation of abortion.
But the historic vote appears on a knife edge, with those in support of the Bill thought to be very narrowly in the lead.
According to a spreadsheet run by one of the campaigns seen by The Independent, both camps are neck and neck with 199 MPs for to 196 against, out of a total of 650.
Baroness Grey-Thompson recently told The Independent that if passed the new law would enable unscrupulous families to go “doctor shopping” to end the lives of elderly, disabled or sick relatives.
The 11-time Paralympic gold medallist rejected claims by supporters that the Bill contains the strictest safeguards in the world, warning that “the reality ... is very different”.
“It is fair to say that it kind of allows doctor shopping,” she said. “The first doctor can refer you to the second one, but then, if they don’t approve one, they can carry on until they find one that is willing.”
And despite her success in sport and politics, Baroness Grey-Thompson said she se had been told “in the building [Parliament], ‘if my life was like yours I would kill myself’. I’m like ‘wow! I’ve had a really good life.’”
It is understood that at least 175 MPs have asked to speak during the five-and-a-half-hour debate on the Bill - but the majority have not yet declared publicly which way they will vote.
