UK Parliament advances bill to allow assisted dying for terminally ill

Members of Parliament in the United Kingdom voted to advance a bill to give some terminally ill patients the right to end their lives with assistance. The bill would allow assisted dying for patients in England and Wales who have a terminal illness and have six months or less to live. 

Assisted suicide is currently illegal in the U.K. People involved can face up to 14 years in prison.

The bill advanced after a contentious debate in the country’s House of Commons and protests outside. Through hours of speeches, members brought up concerns about the rights of disabled people.

Tim Farron, a member of parliament for the Liberal Democrats, worried about people coercing patients into death. He also raised the prospect of patients deciding it would be better to die.

“Unless there is a clause in this bill I have missed to employ mind readers, then of course, no amount of doctors, safeguards or bureaucratic mechanisms, will prevent those who self-coerce from opting to die simply because they assume, that no matter what their loved ones say, everyone will be better off if they were dead,” Farron said.

Members like Marie Tidball of the Labour Party said they supported the bill as a way to expand choice for people facing terminal illness.

“So often, control is taken away from disabled people in all sorts of circumstances,” Tidball said. “In order to ensure that there’s compassionate choice at the end of life, it is right that this bill is tightly drawn around the final stage of terminal illness for adults.”

The votes on the bill did not fall neatly along party lines. Members from all three of the UK’s largest parties split their votes for and against.

A majority of the Labour Party and Liberal Democrats voted for the bill, while a majority of Conservatives voted against it.

Both Prime Minister Keir Starmer from Labour and his predecessor, Rishi Sunak of the Conservative Party, voted in favor.

The bill heads back to parliamentary subcommittees for more work. It could be months before a final vote.

Across parties, members said their future votes may depend on what the final bill looks like.

“I want this bill to succeed,” David Davis, a member of parliament from the Conservative Party, said. “It’s more important than most bills we handle. It can’t be dealt with in five hours and a few hours of committee. So I’m going to vote for it today. But I want the government to help me be able to vote for a good bill at the end of this.”