Scottish lawmakers back assisted dying bill in first vote

Anil Douglas, a campaigner in support of the assisted dying bill whose father suffered from multiple sclerosis and committed suicide, poses for a portrait in London on November 15, 2024. — File photo by Agence France-Presse

Scottish lawmakers voted Tuesday in favor of a bill that would legalize assisted dying, the first step of a long process towards legislation.

The bill seeks to allow terminally ill people to request medical assistance to end their lives, with a final vote expected later this year.

After five hours of emotionally charged debate, 70 members of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) voted in favour of moving the bill forward, while 56 opposed it and one abstained.

“This is a landmark moment for Scotland,” said the author of the bill, liberal democrat MSP Liam McArthur.

The bill “can offer that compassionate choice for the small number of terminally ill Scots who need it”, he added.

READ: European countries that allow assisted dying

Under the current draft, assisted dying would be granted to terminally ill patients after two doctors deem them mentally competent to make the decision.

While political parties had not given instructions to their members ahead of Tuesday’s vote, Scottish Prime Minister John Swinney had said he would vote against.

Lawmakers will now be able to propose amendments to the original text.

The Scottish Parliament had previously rejected two assisted dying bills, in 2010 and 2015.

Similarly, MPs in England and Wales approved in November legislation in a first reading, which would grant assisted dying for certain terminally ill patients.

The Isle of Man, a self-governing British dependency lying between England and Ireland, became at the end of March the first British territory to pass an assisted dying bill.

The bill, which still needs royal assent, allows terminally ill adults with less than a year to live and who have been resident on the island for five years to end their lives.

Assisted suicide is illegal in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and currently carries a maximum prison sentence of 14 years.

In Scotland, anyone assisting someone to die can be prosecuted for voluntary homicide. /das