Supporters of the “Not Dead Yet” campaign, which opposes the Assisted Dying Bill, react outside the Houses of Parliament as news breaks that the Bill has passed the first stage, on November 29, 2024 in London, England.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images

British lawmakers gave initial approval on Friday (November 29, 2024) to a bill to help terminally ill adults end their lives in England and Wales, following an impassioned debate that saw people sharing personal stories of loss and suffering.

Members of Parliament approved the assisted dying bill by a 330-275 vote, signalling their approval in principle for the bill, which will undergo further scrutiny before it goes to a final vote.

Friday’s vote came after hours of debate — emotional at times — that touched on issues of ethics, faith and law. There was no braying and shouting that often marks debates in the House of Commons and speeches were considered respectfully and heard in silence.

“Let’s be clear, we’re not talking about a choice between life or death, we are talking about giving dying people a choice about how to die,” the bill’s main sponsor, Kim Leadbeater, said as she presented the bill to a packed chamber.

Supporters said the law would provide dignity to the dying and prevent suffering, while protecting the vulnerable.

Opponents said the disabled and elderly were at risk of being coerced, directly or indirectly, to end their lives to save money or relieve the burden on family members. Others called for the improvement of palliative care to ease suffering as an alternative.

The proposed bill would allow adults over the age of 18 who are expected to have fewer than six months to live to request and be provided help to end their life, subject to several safeguards.

They would have to be capable of taking the fatal drugs themselves, and two independent doctors and a High Court judge will have to sign off on any decision. The bill will not apply to Scotland or Northern Ireland.

Arguments for and against

Backers of the bill told heart-wrenching stories about constituents and family members who suffered in the final months of their lives and dying people who committed suicide in secret because it is currently a crime for anyone to provide assistance.

Danny Kruger, who led the argument against the bill, cautioned lawmakers not to back a “state suicide service.” He argued that no amount of safeguards will stop many vulnerable people feeling the pressure to make a request to end their lives.

Mr. Kruger voiced his disappointment at the outcome but said there’s a chance lawmakers will reject the bill when it comes back for a vote in the next few months. Some of those voting in favor said they only did so to examine the details further and could potentially vote against it in the future.

“I still think we can stop it,” he said.

Across the political divide

Although the bill was proposed by Ms. Leadbeater, a member of the ruling center-left Labour Party, it was an open vote with alliances formed across the political divide.

The government is widely expected to come up in the next few months with assessments on how assisted dying will be funded and how it would impact the U.K.’s state-funded National Health Service, hospice care and the legal system.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer did not show his hand ahead of the vote, but backed the change. Others in his Cabinet, including Health Secretary Wes Streeting and the Justice Minister Shabana Mahmood, voted against. There were similar divisions across other political parties.

Long-time British campaigner Esther Rantzen, who is terminally ill with lung cancer and played a leading role in advocating the need for a vote on assisted dying, voiced her joy at the “wonderful” outcome and said it will give people an “equal choice.”

When diagnosed with her terminal illness, Ms. Rantzen said she would travel to Switzerland to bring an end to her life, where the law allows assisted dying for non-residents.

Hundreds of people on both sides of the issue gathered outside Parliament on a cold but bright day as the debate continued for nearly five hours.

Opponents held signs saying, “Kill the bill, not the ill,” and, referring to the National Health Service, “NHS It’s cradle to grave. Not ’til old, inconvenient or expensive!”

The group Dignity in Dying, many wearing pink winter hats, led supporters as they clutched signs saying “Giving me choice over my death,” and “You can’t cure death. Please make it fear free.”

Backers of the measure erupted in cheers when the result was announced and hugged each other.

“It’s a relief, it’s history, finally we are getting towards having a society that shows love and compassion above the need to just keep people alive,” said Joshua Cook, 33, who has Huntington’s disease, an incurable neurodegenerative disease.

Other countries that have legalised assisted suicide include Australia, Belgium, Canada and parts of the United States, with regulations on who is eligible varying by jurisdiction.

Assisted suicide is different from euthanasia, allowed in the Netherlands and Canada, which involves health care practitioners administering a lethal injection at the patient’s request in specific circumstances.

A small demonstration by people advocating assisted dying was held outside the Houses of Parliament on October 16, 2024, as a bill to legalise assisted dying is to be put before lawmakers in London
| Photo Credit: AP

A new bill aiming to legalise assisted dying in Britain is to be introduced in Parliament on Wednesday, October 16, 2024, marking the first time in nearly a decade that the House of Commons will debate allowing doctors to help end people’s lives after previous court challenges to change a legal blanket ban failed.

Labour politician Kim Leadbeater will introduce a bill granting terminally ill people in England and Wales a way to allow physicians to help them die, although the details won’t be released until later in the month ahead of a Parliamentary vote.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer has promised that lawmakers will have a “free vote,” meaning they will not be obliged to vote along party lines. Starmer supported a 2015 assisted dying bill and has said “there are grounds for changing the law.”

“There is absolutely no question of disabled people or those with mental illness who are not terminally ill being pressured to end their lives,” Leadbeater said in a statement. She said it is “important that we get the legislation right, with the necessary protections and safeguards in place.”

Leadbeater’s bill is likely to be similar to an assisted dying bill introduced in the House of Lords earlier this year that has only made slow progress.

The unelected House of Lords studies and amends legislation passed by the elected House of Commons. While bills can originate in the Lords, they rarely become law.

The bill introduced in the House of Lords restricts assisted dying to adults with six or fewer months to live and requires permission from the High Court after having a declaration signed by two doctors, among other criteria.

Esther Rantzen, the founder of a British children’s charity who has advanced lung cancer, encouraged people to write to their local member of Parliament, saying “all we are asking for is the right to choose.” Rantzen said in the absence of a legal way to end her life in Britain, she plans to travel to Switzerland, where assisted suicide is legal for foreigners.

Opponents of assisted dying, however, say there is no way to change the law without endangering vulnerable people, according to actress Liz Carr, a disability rights campaigner.

Assisted suicide — where patients take a lethal drink prescribed by a doctor — is legal in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and parts of the U.S., with regulations on qualifying criteria varying by jurisdiction.

Naomi Richards, an anthropologist who specializes in death and dying at the University of Glasgow, said the number of people who might make use of assisted dying, if legalized in Britain, would be fairly limited, unless the public pushed for wider access.

“These are questions that in a democracy will only be answered further down the road,” she said.

Trudo Lemmens, a professor of health law and policy at the University of Toronto, said Britain’s first priority should be to address inequities in health care across the U.K.

“What we’ve seen is that people ask for medical assistance in dying because they feel they’re a burden to others,” Lemmens said, referring to Canada after it legalized assisted dying in 2016.

“Pressure inevitably increases to expand it beyond what is legislated,” Lemmens said. “Countries should be extremely careful on this and deeply study what has happened in other jurisdictions before they allow end-of-life termination by physicians.”