UK lawmakers have narrowly voted to shelve a bill that would have legalized assisted dying in England and Wales. In a second reading on September 11, the House of Commons rejected the legislation with 286 votes against and 270 in favor. This defeat, which occurred during a quiet Friday sitting, makes it unlikely that such a measure will be enacted before at least the next general election.
The bill, sponsored by Labour MP Lauren Edwards, sought to introduce one of the biggest societal changes in recent years. It would have allowed terminally ill adults with less than six months to live, who can clearly express a wish to die, the option to end their own lives following the approval of a panel of experts. Edwards noted that the proposal incorporated two amendments previously agreed upon without a vote in the House of Lords during a previous effort by Labour MP Kim Leadbeater.
The bill's failure followed a lukewarm stance from Andy Burnham’s government and previous obstacles in the House of Lords, where campaigners claim the bill was blocked through more than 1,000 amendments. Ahead of the vote, Labour MPs Gareth Snell and Meg Hillier urged colleagues not to take the extraordinary risk of using an obscure parliamentary procedure to force the bill through if it remained blocked by the Lords, stating the Lords must be allowed to fulfill their duty in scrutinising the issue.
With this decision, Britain remains outside a growing list of European countries and 14 U.S. jurisdictions that allow some form of assisted suicide. Assisted suicide is currently legal in several countries, including Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland, although eligibility rules vary.