The Scottish parliament has rejected a bill that would have seen the country become the first part of the UK to introduce assisted suicide, in what is the latest victory for the vulnerable the world over in recent weeks.
Last night, MSPs voted by 69 to 57 not to adopt the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill, which would have enabled eligible, terminally ill adults in Scotland to request a lethal drug from healthcare professionals to end their own life.
Foremost among the concerns raised by opponents of the bill was the possibility of coercion, that vulnerable adults could be pressured into ending their lives.
Former First Minister of Scotland, Humza Yousaf said ahead of the vote that while he has “immense empathy for those suffering with a terminal illness”, he could not “in good conscience support legislation that could be abused to coerce the most vulnerable to end their lives”.
Independent MSP Pam Duncan-Glancy, the first permanent wheelchair user elected to Scottish parliament, in her speech said that they could not risk making death the only choice many disabled people have because the care or healthcare they need isn’t available to them.
Sponsor of the Bill, Liam McArthur said that those who rejected the bill exhibited a “woefully inadequate response to the suffering and trauma experienced by dying Scots and their families”. Similarly, assisted suicide campaigner Sarah Wootton said that the result “will be painfully felt by the dying people who want this choice, and the overwhelming majority of Scots who support a change in the law,” but warned “make no mistake – this debate is not going away”.
The defeat of the Scottish assisted suicide bill comes in the wake of the effective collapse of England’s assisted suicide proposal, which became bogged down in the House of Lords after a majority of MPs voted last year to allow assisted suicide for terminally ill adults in England and Wales expected to die within six months.
Supporters of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill have lost hope that the legislation can be passed before the end of the current parliamentary session, a development owed to the staggering number of amendments that have been tabled in the House of Lords by opponents of the bill.
In a dynamic that mirrors that found in Scotland, opponents of the bill have described their relief at the scrutiny and criticism faced by the bill, while its supporters have cried foul.
Labour MP Kim Leadbeater, who introduced the bill, criticised the delay as “undemocratic”, despite the fact that one of the functions of the House of Lords is to examine proposed legislation and suggest amendments if necessary.
Speaking on BBC Radio Leeds, Ms Leadbeater said that “there are people who genuinely want to put changes in there to what they believe are ways of safeguarding the bill, but ultimately there are people who are just fundamentally opposed to a change in the law”.
As the Government has declined to allocate extra time to the bill, it is almost certain to fail on the basis of time constraints alone, even aside from growing opposition.
Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the Atlantic, both northern and southern hemispheres have seen positive developments, certainly from the perspective of those most likely to be affected by controversial practices like assisted suicide, euthanasia and abortion.
In Canada, which is fast approaching the grim milestone of 100,000 ‘Medical Assistance in Dying’ (MAiD) deaths, the government of Alberta is set to table the Establishing Safeguards for Last Resort Termination of Life Act. The Act would, among other things, ban euthanasia for those whose deaths are not “reasonably foreseeable” and introduce more stringent checks for coercion or pressure on people seeking out MAiD.
It has not yet been adopted, but opponents of euthanasia and assisted suicide in Canada have hailed it as a “positive and life-affirming step” in a country that has unfortunately seen few enough of either since MAiD’s introduction in 2016.
As covered in these pages, “more Canadians are dying from assisted suicide each year than all the world’s other countries combined”, and cases where doctors help people to die by suicide now account for 45 deaths per day in Canada.
Finally, in South America, President Jose Antonio Kast was inaugurated March 11, generating headlines the world over containing scary labels like “far-right” and “ultra-conservative”, despite the convincing 58-42 victory in the presidential election over leftwing rival, Jeannette Jara.
Mr Kast has previously affirmed his total opposition to abortion, while also opposing euthanasia and assisted suicide. While the focus of the 2025 election focus was on crime and immigration, Chile experiencing surges in both in recent years, his track record is strongly ‘pro-life’, representing a departure from the previous administration’s trajectory under president Gabriel Boric.
Despite these victories, in each of the above-mentioned countries, the push to introduce and expand these contested procedures remains intense. As stated by campaigner Sarah Wootten, the assisted suicide debate “is not going away”, even if the current battle has come to an end. It is easily conceivable that the situation is the same for England and Wales.
And although Alberta has broken from the new normal in Canada, as a whole, the trajectory remains grim. In approximately one year’s time, Canada is set to introduce MAiD eligibility for “persons suffering solely from a mental illness”, which has generated no small amount of controversy and discomfort, even in a country well into its euthanasia journey.
Time will tell which culture prevails, but these recent developments will likely give the vulnerable the world over a shot in the arm.