TESTIMONY ON TWO BILLS THAT WOULD ALLOW PHYSICIAN ASSISTED SUICIDE HERE IN MASSACHUSETTS. IF APPROVED, THE LEGISLATION WOULD ALLOW ADULTS WHO HAVE BEEN DIAGNOSED WITH A TERMINAL ILLNESS AND HAVE A LIFE EXPECTANCY OF LESS THAN SIX MONTHS TO RECEIVE MEDICATION THAT WOULD END THEIR LIVES. THE MEDICATION MUST BE SELF-ADMINISTERED. THOSE IN FAVOR AND OPPOSED TESTIFIED TODAY. I PERSONALLY BELIEVE THAT, YOU KNOW, DIGNITY, HUMAN DIGNITY SUPERSEDES RELIGIOUS, POLITICAL, SOCIAL BELIEFS. AND IF WE REALLY BELIEVE IN DEATH WITH A LIFE WITH DIGNITY, WE CAN’T HAVE LIFE WITH DIGNITY, WITHOUT DEATH, WITH DIGNITY. TRUTH NUMBER ONE, DOCTOR PRESCRIBED SUICIDE DAMAGES TRUST IN DOCTORS. A PHYSICIAN CANNOT BE BOTH HEALER AND KILLER. AND STILL MAINTAIN A PATIENT’S TRUST. SIMILAR LEGISLATION HAS COME

Advertisement UK lawmakers back bill to allow terminally ill adults to end their lives Editorial Standards ⓘ

U.K. lawmakers on Friday approved a bill to allow terminally ill adults in England and Wales to choose to end their lives in a historic vote in Parliament that takes it a step nearer to becoming law.Related video above: Testimony for, against physician-assisted suicide heard in Massachusetts Members of Parliament voted 314-291 to back the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill following an impassioned and respectful debate. The majority of 23 was less than the 55 when they last voted on the issue in November, meaning that some lawmakers changed their minds in the intervening months.Since November, the bill has been scrutinized, leading to some changes in the proposed legislation, which has been shepherded by Labour lawmaker Kim Leadbeater rather than the government.It’s not quite law yet as the bill now goes to the unelected House of Lords, which can amend or delay policy, though it can’t overrule the lower chamber.The vote is potentially the biggest change to social policy since abortion was partially legalized in 1967.Divisive issueIn opening the debate, Leadbeater relayed how she had heard hundreds of stories from people who saw their loved ones die in traumatic circumstances.“Not supporting the bill today is not a neutral act. It is a vote for the status quo,” she said. “And it fills me with despair to think MPs could be here in another 10 years’ time hearing the same stories.”Proponents of the bill argue those with a terminal diagnosis must be given a choice at the end of their lives. However, opponents say the disabled and older people could be at risk of being coerced, directly or indirectly, into ending their lives to save money or relieve the burden on family members. Others have called for improvements in palliative care and greater investments in hospices to ease suffering as a better and more moral alternative.Diane Abbott, a veteran left-wing Labour lawmaker, urged MPs to “speak up for the voiceless one more time, because there is no doubt that if this bill is passed in its current form, people will lose their lives who do not need to, and they will be amongst the most vulnerable and marginalized in our society.”Passions were running high outside of Parliament where hundreds of people gathered to make their voices heard.Supporters were dressed in clothing emblazoned with the phrase “Campaign for Dignity in Dying,” while opponents held up banners urging lawmakers not to make the state-run National Health Service the “National Suicide Service.”What lawmakers are voting onThe bill would allow terminally ill adults over age 18 in England and Wales, who are deemed to have less than six months to live, to apply for an assisted death.The terminally ill person would have to be capable of taking the fatal drugs themselves.Proponents of the bill say wealthy individuals can travel to Switzerland, which allows foreigners to legally end their lives, while others have to face possible prosecution for helping their loved ones die.Timeline for the billFriday’s result isn’t the end of the matter. The legislation now goes to the unelected House of Lords, which has the power to delay and amend policy, though it can’t overrule the lower chamber.Since assisted dying wasn’t in the governing Labour Party’s election manifesto last year, the House of Lords has more room to maneuver. Any amendments would then go back to the House of Commons.Backers of the bill say implementation will take four years, rather than the initially suggested two. That means it could become law in 2029, around the time that the next general election must be held.Changes to the billPlenty of revisions have been made to the measure, but not enough for some.Perhaps the most important change was to drop the requirement that a judge sign off on any decision. Many in the legal profession had objected.Now any request would be subject to approval by two doctors and a panel featuring a social worker, senior legal figure and psychiatrist.Changes also were made to ensure the establishment of independent advocates to support people with learning disabilities, autism or mental health conditions and the creation of a disability advisory board.It was already the case that doctors wouldn’t be required to take part, but lawmakers have since voted to insert a new clause into the bill extending the provision to anyone.The wording means “no person,” including social care workers and pharmacists, is obliged to take part in assisted dying and can therefore opt out.Government stanceThere is clearly no consensus in the Cabinet about the measure.Prime Minister Keir Starmer backed the bill on Friday, while his health secretary, Wes Streeting, voted against it. But Streeting has said that he would respect the outcome.There are also questions about how it would impact the NHS, hospice care and the legal system.Nations where assisted dying is legalOther countries that have legalized 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.

LONDON (AP) — U.K. lawmakers on Friday approved a bill to allow terminally ill adults in England and Wales to choose to end their lives, taking it one step nearer to becoming law.

The vote backing what is generally termed “ assisted dying ” — sometimes referred to as “assisted suicide” — is potentially the biggest change to social policy in the U.K. since abortion was partially legalized in 1967.

Members of Parliament voted 314-291 to back the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill following an impassioned debate. The majority of 23 was less than the 55 when they last voted on the issue in November, meaning that some lawmakers changed their minds in the intervening months.

Since November, the bill has been scrutinized, leading to some changes in the proposed legislation, which has been shepherded through Parliament by Kim Leadbeater, the Labour lawmaker who proposed the bill.

“I appreciate it’s a huge moment for the country,” she told Sky News after the vote. “It was a huge sense of relief because this is the right thing to do.”

The bill now goes to the unelected House of Lords, which can amend or delay policy, though it can’t overrule the lower chamber.

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What lawmakers voted on

The bill would allow terminally ill adults over age 18 in England and Wales, who are deemed to have less than six months to live, to apply for an assisted death. The bill doesn’t apply to Northern Ireland or Scotland, which is holding its own vote on the issue.

One of the most important changes to the bill from last November was the dropping of the requirement that a judge sign off on any decision. Many in the legal profession had objected.

Now any request would be subject to approval by two doctors and a panel featuring a social worker, senior legal figure and psychiatrist.

Changes were also made to ensure the establishment of independent advocates to support people with learning disabilities, autism or mental health conditions and the creation of a disability advisory board.

After receiving a go-ahead from doctors and the panel, the terminally ill person would have to be capable of taking the fatal drugs themselves.

Another big change made was that “no person,” including doctors, social care workers and pharmacists, will be obliged to take part.

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Divisive issue

The bill has divided lawmakers for months. The vote was a free one, meaning lawmakers vote according to their conscience rather than on party lines. Alliances have formed across the political divide.

Proponents of the bill argued that those with a terminal diagnosis must be given a choice at the end of their lives to relieve their suffering. They also said that the current situation discriminates against the poor as wealthy individuals can already travel to Switzerland, which allows foreigners to legally end their lives, while others have to face possible prosecution for helping their loved ones die.

However, opponents warned that the most vulnerable in society, such as disabled and older people, could be at risk of being coerced, directly or indirectly, into ending their lives to save money or relieve the burden on family members.

Both sides agreed on the need to make improvements in palliative care and greater investments in hospices to ease suffering.

Passions ran high outside of Parliament where hundreds of people gathered to make their voices heard.

Supporters were dressed in clothing emblazoned with the phrase “Campaign for Dignity in Dying,” while opponents held up banners urging lawmakers not to make the state-run National Health Service the “National Suicide Service.”

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Supporters wept, jumped and hugged each other as the bill was backed.

“This is for all the people who couldn’t be here today,” said Sarah Wootton, chief executive of Dignity in Dying. “This vote sends a clear message. Parliament stands with the public and change is coming.”

Timeline for the bill

The legislation now goes to the unelected House of Lords, Any amendments would then go back to the House of Commons.

There’s also the possibility of legal challenge to the policy. Opposition campaigners such as “Right To Life U.K.” and “Care Not Killing” said after the vote that they weren’t giving up the fight.

Backers of the bill say implementation will take four years, rather than the initially suggested two. That means it could become law in 2029, around the time that the next general election must be held.

Government stance

There is clearly no consensus in the Cabinet about the measure.

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Prime Minister Keir Starmer backed the bill on Friday, while his health secretary, Wes Streeting, voted against.

The government has said it will respect the outcome.

However, it’s not clear what the cost implications are, or how it would impact the NHS, hospice care and the legal system.

Nations where assisted dying is legal

Other countries that have legalized 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.

Open this photo in gallery: Demonstrators wear ‘Campaign for Dignity In Dying’ caps in support of the assisted dying law for terminally ill people bill, on the day British lawmakers are preparing to vote on the bill, in London.Isabel Infantes/Reuters

Britain’s parliament voted on Friday in favour of a bill to legalize assisted dying, paving the way for the country’s biggest social change in a generation.

314 lawmakers voted in favour with 291 against the bill, clearing its biggest parliamentary hurdle.

The “Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life)” law would give mentally competent, terminally ill adults in England and Wales with six months or less left to live the right to choose to end their lives with medical help.

The vote puts Britain on course to follow Australia, Canada and other countries, as well as some U.S. states, in permitting assisted dying. Below is a list of countries which let people choose to end their lives, or are considering doing so.

Canada

Open this photo in gallery: Sisters, Christie, left, and Alicia Duncan, whose mother Donna Duncan received Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) in 2021, show the matching tattoos they got to honour their mother, in Mission, B.C.DARRYL DYCK/The Globe and Mail

Canada introduced “Medical Assistance in Dying” in 2016 for those whose death was deemed to be “reasonably foreseeable.” Five years later, the law was extended to permit people with a “grievous and irremediable” medical condition to request assisted dying.

Opinion: When I provide assisted dying, it is about grace and choice – and that must remain the case

Switzerland

Switzerland legalized assisted dying in 1942 on the condition the motive is not selfish, making it the first country in the world to permit the practice. A number of Swiss organizations such as Dignitas offer their services to foreign nationals.

The Netherlands

The “Termination of Life on Request and Assisted Suicide (Review Procedures) Act” came into effect in 2002. A doctor is immune from punishment for euthanasia and assisted suicide where patients are experiencing “unbearable suffering with no prospect of improvement.” Minors can request euthanasia from the age of 12 but require parental permission before the age of 16.

Belgium

Belgium legalized medically assisted dying in 2002 for the terminally ill and for people experiencing unbearable suffering, which includes patients with psychiatric conditions. Since 2014, those under 18 who are terminally ill are covered by the law as long as they have parental permission.

The United States

Open this photo in gallery: Supporters of a bill permitting so-called medical aid in dying watch as the State Assembly moves to pass it at the New York State Capitol in Albany, N.Y., April 29, 2025.CINDY SCHULTZ/The New York Times News Service

Medical aid in dying, also known as physician assisted dying, is legal in 10 states: California, Colorado, Hawaii, Montana, Maine, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont and Washington, plus the District of Columbia. Oregon was the first state to legalize it under a law which came into effect in 1997.

Australia

Voluntary assisted dying for the terminally ill or those with a condition that is causing intolerable suffering is legal in most Australian states, after being introduced first in Victoria in 2019.

Spain

Spain approved a law in 2021 which allows euthanasia and medically assisted suicide for people with incurable or debilitating diseases who want to end their life.

Germany

Assisted dying had been legal in Germany until 2015 when the country outlawed its provision on an organized or commercial basis, effectively banning it in many cases. Five years later the country’s top court ruled in favour of groups providing terminally ill adults with assisted suicide services, but lawmakers are yet to finalize new rules.

France

Open this photo in gallery: French MP for the Democrate group and rapporteur for the bill on assisted dying and end-of-life care, Olivier Falorni (Bottom) speaks during a session on palliative, supportive and end-of-life care at the National Assembly in Paris on May 12, 2025.LUDOVIC MARIN/AFP/Getty Images

Doctors in France have been allowed to put a person who is close to death and in great pain under deep sedation since 2016. But they were not allowed to administer life-ending medication.

French lawmakers voted in May 2025 to give some people in the later stages of a terminal illness the right to end their lives using a lethal substance, a law change supported by President Emmanuel Macron. The bill was approved by the National Assembly and is now being considered by the Senate. It could become law by 2027.

Ireland

A cross-party Irish parliamentary committee recommended this year that the government should legalize assisted dying in certain restricted circumstances.

A majority of lawmakers in 2024 voted in favour of “noting” the committee’s findings. Steps could now be taken to consider a law change.

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ProCon Debate: Should Medical Aid in Dying (MAID) Be Legal?

ProCon Issue in the News: After five hours of debate on November 30, 2024, members of Parliament (MPs) voted 330 to 274 in favor of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, which would legalize medical aid in dying in England and Wales for adults with six months or fewer to live. Prime Minister Keir Starmer voted in favor of the legislation.

According to the BBC, “There are still many months of parliamentary activity ahead, but the bill now moves forward with the backing of the House of Commons. It means such a law has moved a step closer but it must still pass through five parliamentary stages handled by MPs and five more by peers, and further rounds of voting. MPs heard there would [be] a period of up to two years before any new law was implemented because ‘it is more important to get this right than to do it quickly.’ It is also possible the bill could fall and not become law at all.”

The law as it stood at the November 30 vote requires that terminally ill patients who wish to end their lives must:

Be over 18 years old

Reside in England and Wales

Have been registered with a general practitioner doctor for at least 12 months

Be capable of making and communicating health care decisions for themselves

Be diagnosed with a terminal illness that will lead to death within six months

Provide two witnessed and signed declarations that they want to die

Be assessed and approved by two doctors with seven days between each assessment

A separate bill, Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill, is being considered in Scotland.

Tim Cairns, from Christian Action Research and Education (CARE), who is opposed to MAID, told the BBC, “We need to make a choice—do we want to have an economic way forward or a way forward that increases and prolongs life?” Cairns, who would rather see better palliative care, said, “When we look at the international experience in Canada, the Netherlands, and Belgium, wherever it’s been legislated for, the qualification for the procedure widens from very narrowly defined terminal illness to mental illness and disabilities. It comes down to this, do we value life or do we not?”

“Thousands of people will be heartened by this result,” said Trevor Moore, of the group My Death, My Decision. “Every day, 20 people in the U.K. are suffering unbearable pain at the end of their lives, despite receiving the best possible care. For them, the choices are stark and harrowing: travel to Switzerland and end their life by suicide, stop eating or drinking, or face an agonizing natural death.” Moore continued, “These people deserve better. They deserve the dignity of choice at the end of their lives, and we are relieved to see MPs acknowledge this.”

London — After hours of impassioned debate, British lawmakers in the House of Commons voted Friday to pass a bill that would allow terminally ill adults in England and Wales to choose to end their lives. The bill passed by 23 votes, with hundreds protesting about the divisive issue outside of parliament, from both sides of the debate.

The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill will now undergo months of scrutiny by the House of Lords, the upper chamber of Britain’s Parliament. The lords, who are not elected, can debate, delay and amend the bill, but they have little power to block legislation passed by the elected Members of Parliament in the House of Commons.

The central tenet of the bill is that adults over 18 who are deemed to have less than six months to live could — after a series of safeguarding checks — be provided help to end their lives, in the form of fatal drugs that they could self-administer.

Campaigners for a change in the law on assisted dying celebrate outside The Palace of Westminster, home to the Houses of Parliament, in central London, June 20, 2025, after the vote to allow assisted dying for terminally ill people by the House of Commons. CARLOS JASSO/AFP/Getty

In November, British lawmakers gave initial approval to the new law, passing it by 330 votes to 275 — a wider margin that indicates some members of parliament changed their minds before Friday’s vote.

Since the first vote, the original bill proposed by Labour Party lawmaker Kim Leadbeater underwent several changes, including the dropping of a provision that would have required a judge to sign off on any final decision granting a medically assisted death. The current bill requires any request to be approved by two doctors and a panel that includes a social worker, a senior legal figure, and a psychiatrist.

In a debate before the vote on Friday, Leadbeater told parliament about the many stories she had heard from people who witnessed friends and family suffer traumatic deaths.

“Not supporting the bill today is not a neutral act. It is a vote for the status quo,” she said, according to The Associated Press. “And it fills me with despair to think MPs [Members of Parliament] could be here in another 10 years’ time hearing the same stories.”

Leadbeater and other supporters of the bill argue that people with terminal diagnoses should have the right to choose whether to continue living. They have cited stories of people taking their own lives in secret because no-one could legally help them.

They also argue that it isn’t fair that people with enough money can currently seek life-ending care by traveling to Switzerland. More than 500 Britons have ended their lives in Switzerland, where foreigners can opt for an assisted death.

Protesters against a change in the law on assisted dying hold placards during a demonstration outside The Palace of Westminster, home to the Houses of Parliament in central London, June 20, 2025. CARLOS JASSO/AFP/Getty

Opponents argue that elderly or disabled people could be manipulated — overtly or covertly — into ending their lives, to save money or to relieve a perceived burden on loved ones. Others say better end-of-life and health care would be a better alternative.

Outside parliament on Friday, protesters faced off with contrasting slogans. Some wore clothes bearing the phrase: “Campaign for Dignity in Dying,” while opponents held banners calling the U.K.’s state-run National Health Service, the “National Suicide Service.”

The vote paves the way for what could be one of the biggest changes in social policy in the U.K. since the partial legalization of abortion in 1967.

If the bill passes the House of Lords, it is expected to take another four years to be fully implemented.