Oxfordshire Dignity in Dying to raise awareness of Assisted Dying Bill in Banbury
30/05/2025
Members of the group will share their own stories and chat to local people in the Market Place
A group which aims to raise awareness of why they think the law should change to allow assisted dying in the UK will be in Banbury Market Place tomorrow (Saturday).
Oxfordshire Dignity in Dying will have leaflets and information and will share their stories and discuss the issues with local people, who they hope will sign the petition they plan to pass to Banbury’s MP. Sean Woodcock is a committee member looking at the Assisted Dying Terminally Ill Adults bill.
Catie Fenner is one of those attending tomorrow. She told Banbury FM: “We believe that terminally ill adults with mental capacity should be able to have the option of an assisted death, if it’s something they choose to do.
“This is all about choice – it’s just providing the option. The parameters of the bill are very strict – it’s just for adults with six months to live. We believe that people in that position, who are probably in pain and suffering, should have the option to take that dignified, good death.”
Catie wishes the option had been available to her own mother.
“My mum had to go to Dignitas for a dignified death – she had motor neurone disease. She was unable to have the death that she wanted in this country, so she had to pay £15,000 to go abroad.
“My sister and I couldn’t go with her because she feared us being prosecuted. My dad had to accompany her there and we still fear him being prosecuted.
“She wrote a letter very early in her diagnosis of MND, while she could write, to say this was absolutely her decision; she knew what the disease entailed and did not want to see it through to the end because she would be bed bound and would be trapped in her own body.”
Oxfordshire Dignity in Dying say that public support for the Bill – tabled by MP Kim Leadbeater MBE – remains very high, in some places as high as 78 percent.
Catie said: “We’re open for questions and discussions. This is a Bill that needs the input of opponents and needs to hear the worries of people, because that’s the way we’re going to get it right.
“I was out in Headington and Cowley yesterday with a with a friend. We were gathering petitions there and we had lots of really good conversations with people – open and honest and respectful conversations. People just wanted to know what safeguards the Bill has in place. They were very encouraged by what we had to say, by what Kim Leadbeater has put in place.”
Members of Oxfordshire Dignity in Dying will be in Banbury Market Place on Saturday between 10am and 1pm.
Published: by the Banbury FM News Team
