MPs have voted in favour of legalising assisted dying in England and Wales.
The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill passed by a narrow margin of just 23 votes in the House of Commons on Friday.
The bill will now head to the House of Lords, which it will need to pass through to become law.
The vote came after almost three hours of debate in parliament, which saw passionate views raised on both sides.
MPs had been given a free vote on the matter, meaning they were not told by their party which way to vote and could vote in accordance with their personal beliefs.
Should it become law, the bill will allow terminally ill adults with six months or less to live to get medical assistance to end their own lives.
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Under the bill, anyone wanting to end their life must have the mental capacity to make the choice and be deemed to have expressed a clear, settled and informed wish, free from coercion or pressure.
They will have to make two separate declarations, witnessed and signed, about their desire, and then satisfy two independent doctors that they are eligible, with at least a week between each assessment.
The patient would then have to wait 14 days before proceeding.
The BBC’s Chris Mason said the vote was a “colossal social change” which had been compared to “the Abortion Act of 1967, the abolition of capital punishment, the decriminalisation of homosexuality and the introduction of gay marriage.”
The vote on the bill comes just days after MPs voted to decriminalise abortion in England and Wales.