A YouGov poll found 76% of adults in England and Wales support the proposals in Lord Falconer’s Assisted Dying Bill, due to be introduced to the House of Lords today.
Former Justice Secretary and Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer wants to legalise the choice of assisted dying for terminally ill adults with six months or less to live.
The Bill contains safeguards that mean the patient would be provided with life-ending medication to take themselves if two doctors considered they had made a clear and settled decision with time to consider all other options.
The people surveyed were made aware of the safeguards in the Bill.
Lord Falconer said:
“The public are currently ahead of politicians on this issue.
“The current law which forces some terminally ill people to travel abroad to die or attempt suicide behind closed doors is not fit for purpose.
“This new law will safeguard patients, protect family members and ensure that the medical profession can be involved.
"Furthermore, strictly limited to terminally ill, mentally competent adults, the Bill will not result in more people dying, but in fewer people suffering.”
Peers from all sides of the House have backed the Bill, but others have condemned it.
Lib Dem Lord Carlile said: “In law, as in the English language, if you take your own life, whatever your state of health, that is suicide; and a doctor, or anyone else, who supplies you with the means to do so is assisting suicide.
“Sound law-making demands clarity. It cannot be based on euphemisms, verbal evasions or Orwellian spin.”
Baroness Murphy, a crossbencher, said: "As a doctor, the relief of suffering at the end of life and respecting dying patients' individual sustained wishes about their own care take precedence.
“I welcome this Bill as an opportunity to clarify a difficult and complex area of current law and allow patients who are terminally ill to make real choices about life's end."
Sarah Wootton, Chief Executive of
Dignity in Dyingsaid the charity is backing the Bill.
“Alongside on-going improvements in access to end-of-life care, we are confident that this Bill marks the beginning of the end for unnecessary suffering at the end of life," she said.
“With other jurisdictions, most notably the US states of Oregon and Washington, showing that assisted dying can be safely legalised and safeguarded, Parliamentarians have a responsibility to do what is right for the people.”