The widow of campaigner Tony Nicklinson has told STV she won't give up the fight for legalised assisted suicide ahead of a conference on the subject.
Jane Nicklinson is appearing in Edinburgh with right-to-die supporter and politician Margo MacDonald who hopes to make Scotland the first part of the UK to change the law.
She spoke to Scotland Tonight ahead of the conference, vowing not to give up the fight her husband started.
She said: "When I was asked if I would carry on my immediate reaction was no, I have had enough but when I thought about it I thought I can’t let it drop.
"It was what Tony wanted so much and I know that he would want us to carry on and now I'm really pleased that I am.
"It is something that needs to be sorted out, we will go until the end and we will go as far as we can. I won’t let it drop."
When asked if she understood why people are opposed to the legislation, Mrs Nicklinson said she did not.
She said: "Not at all. I can’t understand it. I mean, there would have to be a very strict procedure put into place so that vulnerable people can be protected but at the moment they’re being protected at the expense of people like Tony and people that can’t take their own lives."
Mr Nicklinson died in August days after he lost his High Court battle in England for the right to end his life. The 47-year-old, who refused food in the days following the landmark case, was paralysed by a stroke in 2005.
Dr Libby Wilson, who was arrested after giving advise to a woman who wanted to end her own life, is also attending the conference.
The convener and medical director of support group Friends at the End, she believes people should have the choice over when they die.
She said: "Why shouldn't we? I mean, we have the right to chose when we are born, when we have children and nowadays, women are allowed to chose who they marry, I mean 200 years ago they couldn't even do that. I hope we have progressed along the road since then.
"This is the last right which people no longer have control over in their own lives."
Ms MacDonald, an Independent MSP at Holyrood who has Parkinson's disease, hopes to persuade the Scottish Parliament to back her revised legislation, having already tried and failed to change the law under the last minority SNP administration.
She said: "This is a very apt moment to stage what I think is the first ever meeting of its type in Scotland.
"It's generally known that we are in the process of producing a Bill which represents our second attempt to change the law in Scotland so that assisting someone to commit suicide would no longer be a crime.
"The Bill we envisage will be slightly different from some of the other jurisdictions. For example, we visualise its use by people suffering from irrecoverable conditions for whom life has become intolerable, like Tony Nicklinson for example.
"This is where the conference will be especially useful to us and it will be very instructive for us to hear from those attending the conference feel about this and other aspects of our proposal."
Other contributors at the conference are Sir Graeme Catto, chairman of Dignity in Dying and emeritus professor of medicine at the University of Aberdeen, and Ludwig Minelli, founder of Swiss assisted dying organisation Dignitas.
Ms MacDonald's original attempt to change the law resulted in a free vote, with no party political obligation, among all MSPs at Holyrood, including government ministers. It was defeated 16-85 in December 2010.
The End of Life Assistance Bill was considered by a specially convened committee which did not support the general principles.
Under the MSP's revised plan, Scotland would change the law which leaves people open to prosecution for culpable homicide.
Assisted suicide remains a criminal offence in England and Wales, punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
Among Ms MacDonald's new proposals is a suggestion that a trained, "licensed facilitator", a so-called friend at the end, would have to be present when someone is at the point of ending their own life.
Such a measure is primarily aimed at making sure any fatal medication is taken correctly. A facilitator could be a doctor, social worker, or close friend but not a relative or anyone who stands to gain from the death.
