The U.K. is the latest among a string of European countries to attempt to permit assisted dying. Irish MPs earlier this year endorsed a parliamentary report calling for assisted dying. Similar attempts to introduce legislation have been made recently in Scotland, Jersey and the Isle of Man.
Meanwhile, France was debating an assisted dying bill earlier this year, but progress was interrupted due to a snap election. And various forms of assisted dying are already legal in Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland.
The U.K.’s Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) bill is being treated as a matter of conscience, meaning MPs will be given a free vote and do not have to make their choices along party lines.
The bill was introduced by a backbench Labour MP, Kim Leadbeater, rather than by the government, after Prime Minister Keir Starmer promised ahead of the summer general election to allow the issue to come before parliament.
Unlikely alliances
The question has engendered deep divisions among those with responsibility for deciding and carrying out the potential change in the law.
Starmer’s Cabinet is split in two, while MPs from all the major parties find themselves in disagreement with close colleagues. Medical specialists have also made interventions both for and against the bill.
A recent YouGov study showed that 73 percent of Britons think assisted dying should be legal. However, 19 percent said that while they support assisted dying in principle, they oppose it in practice because they don’t believe adequate laws can be created to regulate it.
