My Lords, that was a very powerful speech. The Bill as it stands seems to me to involve no lack of clarity whatever. Clause 1(1) is perfectly clear:
“A person who is terminally ill may request and lawfully be provided with assistance to end his or her own life”.
What does assistance mean? Clause 4(1) is perfectly clear:
“The attending doctor of a person who has made a valid declaration may prescribe medicines for that person to enable that person to end their own life”.
There is no lack of clarity there. We may disagree over whether this is a desirable or an undesirable Bill, but the idea that people in the country do not understand the issues because of the wording of the Bill is simple fanciful.