UK Lawmakers Vote To Allow Assisted Dying For Terminally Ill Adults: What Is It?

Last Updated:June 20, 2025, 19:42 IST

If passed into law, it would make Britain one of the largest countries by population to allow assisted dying under tightly controlled conditions.

UK Assisted Dying Bill: The bill was passed in the House of Commons by 314 votes to 291.

In a landmark decision, lawmakers in the United Kingdom voted to legalize assisted dying for terminally ill adults, following a divisive debate in Parliament. The bill was passed in the House of Commons by 314 votes to 291 and will now move to the House of Lords for further scrutiny. If passed into law, it would make Britain one of the largest countries by population to allow assisted dying under tightly controlled conditions.

What Does The Bill Propose?

The bill allows mentally competent adults with a terminal illness and a life expectancy of six months or less to request and take a life-ending medication. The process would involve:

The model is closely aligned with Oregon’s assisted dying law, considered among the most cautious in the world.

Why Is The Bill This Significant?

Assisted dying remains illegal in England and Wales, with helping someone end their life punishable by up to 14 years in prison. Performing euthanasia is treated as murder or manslaughter. Friday’s vote marks a major shift in the UK’s approach to end-of-life care and brings it closer in line with countries like Canada, New Zealand, Spain and several US states, where assisted dying is legal under specific conditions.

What UK Parliament Debated About?

Supporters said that the bill offers dignity and choice for the terminally ill and prevents unnecessary suffering while critics argued that it could pressure vulnerable people and undermine investment in palliative care.

Kim Leadbeater, the MP who introduced the bill last year, said, “If we don’t vote to change the law today, what does that mean? It means we will have many more years of heartbreaking stories from terminally ill people and their families, of pain and trauma, suicide attempts, PTSD, lonely trips to (clinics in) Switzerland, police investigations. The option is not a choice between living and dying: it is a choice for terminally ill people about how they die."

Meanwhile, former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said that fixing Britain’s strained end-of-live care system should be prioritized and that the bill “would privilege the legal right to assisted dying without guaranteeing anything approaching an equivalent right to high-quality palliative care for those close to death."

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News world UK Lawmakers Vote To Allow Assisted Dying For Terminally Ill Adults: What Is It?