Last week, Scotland resolutely rejected assisted suicide. Alberta announced major new legislation to protect individuals from the practice. And the clock is ticking in the United Kingdom’s House of Lords on a bill that would legalize the practice in England and Wales.
Debates over assisted suicide are intensifying worldwide. The Scottish vote was striking as its parliament is dominated by parties on the left and center-left, and yet opposition to the bill prevailed, cutting across party lines. Leaders from Scotland’s three major parties (the Scottish National Party, Labour, and the Conservatives), along with the country’s last two first ministers, came together to reject the bill in a rare show of unity. The result was a 69-to-57 decision against legalizing assisted suicide for terminally ill adults.
The following day, Canada’s province of Alberta announced new legislation to significantly restrict assisted suicide, including a requirement the person be likely to die within the next 12 months and a prohibition on allowing it for those solely suffering from mental illness. This move too signals growing recognition of the immense individual and societal dangers of state-backed death.
Over the last four years, deaths in Alberta from Canada’s Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) regime increased by 109 percent. In her announcement, Alberta’s premier, Danielle Smith, was clear that the proposed law is “about protecting vulnerable Albertans.” As the federal government seeks to expand MAID across the country, including by moving to allow assisted suicide solely on the basis of mental health concerns, Alberta is drawing a line to protect its most vulnerable. If passed, the Safeguards for Last Resort Termination of Life Act would prohibit MAID for minors and when the sole condition is mental illness, in addition to introducing other key protections and delineating a right to conscientious objection.
Let us be clear: “safeguards” can never render assisted suicide safe. As long as this abhorrent practice is legal, precious human lives are under threat. But Alberta’s proposed law is a welcome step in the right direction toward protecting the most vulnerable in light of the country’s draconian MAID apparatus.
Losing Support in Scotland
Every jurisdiction that has legalized assisted suicide shows the same trajectory. Once death laws are introduced, the push to expand them further is unceasing. This is the reality now confronting the UK parliament.
At first, assisted-suicide proposals attract support in principle, only to lose it once the catastrophic real-life consequences are understood. In Scotland, when Liam McArthur’s Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults Bill first advanced last year, it appeared to have real momentum. Over time, as lawmakers worked through the details, that support began to fade. By the final vote, many who had once been open to the proposal had turned against it. The closer they looked, the harder it became to defend.
One of the most compelling speeches before the Scottish Parliament came from Jeremy Balfour, a member of the parliament and a longtime disability-rights advocate, himself disabled. Drawing on his own experience, he asked fellow lawmakers to consider what it means to live in a society where dependence is framed as a burden. He told the chamber that disabled people across Scotland were watching in fear. “We cannot legislate against the feeling of being a burden,” he said.
Experience elsewhere bears that out. In Oregon, where assisted suicide has been legal for nearly 30 years, the share of patients citing concern about burdening others has grown markedly over time. Further, shifts in the patient profile are eerily telling. In the first decade, up to 65 percent of those seeking assisted suicide were privately insured. By 2021, 79 percent were on government insurance. What this shows is vulnerability to difficult circumstances driving life-and-death decisions.
In Scotland, organizations representing general practitioners, psychiatrists, and palliative-care specialists all raised serious concerns about the bill. Several moved from neutral positions to opposition as the debate progressed. Their conclusion was consistent: The safeguards did not resolve the bill’s risks.
Canada’s Expansion of MAID
Canada’s experience shows how quickly those concerns can become reality. What began there as a limited policy for those near the end of life has developed into one of the most permissive assisted suicide systems in the world. Activists have consistently pushed for and achieved broadening of eligibility criteria.
Prudently, Alberta is looking ahead to the likelihood that 2027 will bring the next round of major changes with the expansion of MAID to mental illness.
Let the UK Bill Die
Now, the hope is that Britain will stop short of this madness. The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, passed in the House of Commons last year, looks set to fall in the Lords, undone by the weight of its own unresolved questions and the close of the parliamentary session. Westminster should not mourn its passing.
Unfortunately, last week ushered in a tragic new reality for the UK with parliament’s vote to decriminalize abortion up to birth. Fully developed babies can now be killed without limits, even at nine months. A second amendment to reinstate doctor’s consultations in place of abortion “pills by post” was also rejected. The disregard for the value of human life is profound. The consequences for both mothers and their unborn children will be grave, and the toll on all of British society will be immense.
The same legislative body now faces the end-of-life question too, and if the bill expires without passing, as now seems likely, that will be cause for relief rather than regret. Scotland has shown that the closer legislators look at assisted suicide, the harder it becomes to defend. Alberta has shown where the alternative path leads. There is no safe version of this law. Westminster should let this bill die, and keep it that way.
