Lawmakers in the UK have voted in favor of legalizing assisted suicide. The proposed bill, called the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, will now need to be voted on in the Commons and Lords before it can become law.
330 MPs voted in favor of the bill, including UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and 275 MPs voted against it. Going against their party's general opinions about assisted suicide, Conservatives Rishi Sunak and Oliver Dowden voted in favor of the bill.
Currently in Britain, there are laws in place that restrict people from being able to ask for medical help to end their life. The bill was introduced by left-wing Labour MP Kim Leadbeater to allow those who are terminally ill to do so.
Per BBC News, the bill says that anyone seeking assisted suicide must "be over 18 and live in England and Wales, and have been registered with a GP for at least 12 months, have the mental capacity to make the choice and be deemed to have expressed a clear, settled and informed wish, free from coercion or pressure, be expected to die within six months, make two separate declarations, witnessed and signed, about their wish to die, and satisfy two independent doctors that they are eligible - with at least seven days between each assessment."
The final decision of whether or not a Brit can receive medically assisted suicide would lie in the hands of a High Court judge. The person would then be required to wait at least 14 days after the ruling to have "a period of reflection," per the outlet.
The person seeking assisted suicide would have a "substance" prepared for them by a doctor that would kill them, but they would be required to take it themselves. The substance in question has not been clarified in the bill.
Pressuring or coercing someone into declaring they want to end their life could land the perpetrator in prison for 14 years.
330 MPs voted in favor of the bill, including UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and 275 MPs voted against it. Going against their party's general opinions about assisted suicide, Conservatives Rishi Sunak and Oliver Dowden voted in favor of the bill.
Currently in Britain, there are laws in place that restrict people from being able to ask for medical help to end their life. The bill was introduced by left-wing Labour MP Kim Leadbeater to allow those who are terminally ill to do so.
Per BBC News, the bill says that anyone seeking assisted suicide must "be over 18 and live in England and Wales, and have been registered with a GP for at least 12 months, have the mental capacity to make the choice and be deemed to have expressed a clear, settled and informed wish, free from coercion or pressure, be expected to die within six months, make two separate declarations, witnessed and signed, about their wish to die, and satisfy two independent doctors that they are eligible - with at least seven days between each assessment."
The final decision of whether or not a Brit can receive medically assisted suicide would lie in the hands of a High Court judge. The person would then be required to wait at least 14 days after the ruling to have "a period of reflection," per the outlet.
The person seeking assisted suicide would have a "substance" prepared for them by a doctor that would kill them, but they would be required to take it themselves. The substance in question has not been clarified in the bill.
Pressuring or coercing someone into declaring they want to end their life could land the perpetrator in prison for 14 years.
