Actress Sophie Turner warns how assisted suicide Bill endangers young people with eating disorders

Celebrities and other public figures are expressing “deep concern” over Kim Leadbeater’s assisted suicide Bill, saying it poses a “serious risk” to those struggling with eating disorders.

In an open letter to the House of Lords arranged by the Eat Breathe Thrive Foundation for Eating Disorders, 47 signatories, including actress Sophie Turner and TV personality Gail Porter, urged Peers to ensure the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill “does not end the lives of those who could still recover”.

They explained that under the Bill’s definition of ‘terminally ill’, people with eating disorders could qualify for assisted suicide amid “severe physical complications” when they are “unable to access or accept treatment”.

‘Despair’

The signatories emphasised: “Many young people who could recover with effective care might instead receive lethal medication during a period of despair. In jurisdictions where assisted death is legal, women with eating disorders have already died under laws intended only for those who are terminally ill.”

I am so glad now sitting here that there wasn’t someone there to help that happen

“These were not individuals who were inevitably dying, but individuals whose illnesses had become life-threatening in the absence of effective treatment.”

In a short film released alongside the letter, young woman Ailidh admits that she would have undergone assisted suicide during her struggle with anorexia.

“If this had been available to me in the worse times, then there is no doubt in my mind I would have taken it. I am so glad now sitting here that there wasn’t someone there to help that happen because now I’m here and I’m glad.”

Amendments

An unprecedented number of amendments have been tabled by Peers seeking to change Kim Leadbeater’s divisive Bill.

They insist the amendments are necessary given the unworkability of the Bill and that the Bill has not undergone “due diligence and proper pre-legislative scrutiny”.

Only four days have currently been scheduled for the Committee of the Whole House to consider the almost 1000 amendments put forward so far – a record number for a Private Member’s Bill. On the first day, just seven were debated.