The House of Lords is to debate former Labour Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer's assisted dying bill later on Friday.
The bill proposes to allow doctors to prescribe a lethal dose to terminally-ill patients judged to have less than six months to live.
It has won the backing of Lib Dem Care Minister Norman Lamb, but does not enjoy the support of Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron.
The debate is expected to start shortly after 10:00 BST.
Disability campaigner and former Paralympian Baroness Grey-Thompson told BBC One's This Week programme that the bill was a "chilling prospect for disabled people".
"In their eyes, my life is not worth living," she said.
Baroness Grey-Thompson recorded a personal film for This Week
But Lord Falconer's bill has been backed by scientist Professor Stephen Hawking, who said the status quo involved "discrimination against the disabled, to deny them the right to kill themselves that able-bodied people have".
It looks as though a record number of peers will take part in the debate on the Assisted Dying Bill.
More than 130 members of the Lords have indicated they want to speak about the proposals.
Peers have already been warned that they'll probably only get four minutes each to make their case.
At this stage peers will have a general discussion about the bill.
If their Lordships stick to the time limit the debate should end at about 20:00 BST.
There won't be a vote at the end of this debate but that doesn't mean the measure is guaranteed to become law.
The arguments about the details, and the chances to amend the legislation, will come later - after the summer break.
Mr Lamb has said he has "changed his mind" and would now support a new law on assisted dying.
The Liberal Democrat told BBC Newsnight on Wednesday that an individual should be able to "make their own decision about their life".
He emphasised that he was speaking as an MP, not a minister, as the issue would be decided by a free vote in Parliament - ie party enforcers would not seek to compel MPs to vote one way or another.
But the prime minister has said he is "not convinced" and warned that "people might be being pushed into things that they don't actually want for themselves".
The Church of England has called for an inquiry into the issue.
Former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey has said he has changed his mind and was now in favour after considering cases like that of locked-in syndrome sufferer Tony Nicklinson and "the reality of needless suffering".
But cancer specialist Prof Karol Sikora told Newsnight: "I think the difficulty we have is that if you do implement the bill that's proposed on Friday, doctors are going to have to make the death decision, you're going to have to have essentially death squads, which is really out of the context of delivering good health care."
Peers to debate assisted dying bill
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