The proposed law grants terminally ill adults with a life expectancy under six months the right to seek euthanasia.
A landmark bill legalizing assisted dying in England and Wales for terminally ill adults with less than six months to live has passed its initial parliamentary hurdle. The House of Commons approved the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill by a vote of 330 to 275 on Friday, concluding over four hours of debate and a long campaign by prominent advocates.
If enacted, the legislation will allow those with terminal illnesses and a life expectancy of less than six months to end their lives by self-administering a substance. Eligibility requires the individual to possess the capacity to make the decision, with confirmation from two doctors and a High Court judge. The bill also criminalizes coercion or pressure related to assisted dying, with a potential 14-year prison sentence as punishment.
Further parliamentary stages await the bill, with a return to the Commons early next year and subsequent consideration by the House of Lords. Implementation would follow a two-year period after final approval.
Following a decisive rejection of a similar bill in 2015, public opinion has significantly shifted, with recent polls indicating around three-quarters of Britons support this change.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer and former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak voted in favor, while Health Secretary Wes Streeting and Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood opposed the legislation.
Conservative MP Danny Kruger, a vocal opponent, described the bill as establishing a “state suicide service.” Critics also raised concerns about the bill’s rapid passage and perceived inadequate safeguards for vulnerable individuals.
Currently, assisting suicide is a criminal offense in England and Wales, with euthanasia considered murder or manslaughter.
Prominent campaigner and BBC presenter Esther Rantzen, diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, urged MPs to support the bill in an open letter, cautioning that the issue might not return to parliament for “another decade.”
“Under our current criminal law, the only choice for most people who are terminally ill, if they are facing an agonizing death, is between suffering, Switzerland or suicide,” she wrote.
Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Spain, along with some US states, are among the few jurisdictions allowing assisted dying in various forms.