The presenter has been advocating for the law change alongside her terminally ill mother
Rebecca Wilcox appeared on Loose Women as she offered an update on the assisted dying bill amid caring for her terminally ill mother.
During Tuesday’s (May 6) instalment, Charlene White led the panel and was joined by Brenda Edwards, Janet Street-Porter and Jane Moore.
TV presenter Rebecca Wilcox appeared in the studio as she sat down to discuss the assisted dying bill and what it’s like looking after her mother.
Dame Esther Rantzen was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer in 2023. Earlier this year, Rebecca shared that the medication was no longer working.
Both Rebecca and her mother are advocates of bringing the assisted dying bill to the UK, but after a recent delay Rebecca shared: “I just wish that people understood that all the assisted dying bill is, is choice for people that want it.
“All it is, is giving you peace of mind, and that peace of mind—I cannot tell you how powerful that would be right now for my mum.
“I’m a witness to the trauma of uncertainty, to the trauma of stress around what is going to happen.”
While on Loose Women, Rebecca began by saying that her mum “sends her love and she’s coping”. She continued: “Everybody who’ve been through this, it’s an impossible situation watching someone, wanting to be able to do something… I think I’m slightly irritating… It’s really hard to watch someone go through that and not be able to help.
“That’s why the campaign for assisted dying has been so helpful because it felt like a proactive thing I can help her with. It’s just for people with a terminal diagnosis like mum, it’s not for any other reason, and it’s about compassion and care.”
Giving an update on the assisted dying bill, Rebecca shared: “May 16th we have the second reading and we’ve had the committee stage which has been difficult and detailed and brilliant… You go through the bill line by line, it should be difficult. It shouldn’t be easy to make laws in this country, if it was that would be terrifying.”
When asked to explain who is eligible, Rebecca said: “It’s a very narrow criteria – terminally ill adults, so there’s no worry about children, there’s no worry about mental health, it’s not that sort of thing…
“When a bill is set up to only allow people with a terminal diagnosis, it doesn’t open up.”
It will also feature a panel of doctors who are trained to look for things such as coercive control, before the final decision is made for the patient.
Loose Women airs on weekdays from 12:30pm on ITV1 and is available to stream on ITVX.
