LONDON — British lawmakers on Friday voted down legislation to allow terminally ill adults in England and Wales to choose to end their lives.
Following an impassioned four-hour debate in the elected House of Commons, the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill was rejected 286 to 270. The outcome was somewhat surprising given that an almost identical bill had passed last year with a margin of 23 votes.
The vote brings an end to a two-year debate in Parliament about assisted dying, during which the elected House of Commons had backed assisted dying on two previous occasions. Their backing wasn’t enough for it to become law because it was effectively filibustered by unelected lawmakers in the revising House of Lords chamber.
Back in the House of Commons on Friday, the bill had proposed allowing adults in England and Wales, with fewer than six months to live, to apply for an assisted death subject to the approval of two doctors and an expert panel.
Many individual lawmakers relayed their own stories both in favor of and against the proposal. The government took a neutral stance, meaning lawmakers voted according to their consciences rather than along party lines.
The new British leader, Prime Minister Andy Burnham, didn’t vote because he said he didn’t want to “unduly influence the debate.”
Opponents branded the bill unsafe and unworkable, citing concerns around potential coercion of vulnerable people and a lack of safeguards for those with disabilities.
Lawmaker and cancer surgeon Dr. Zubir Ahmed also noted uncertainty around a doctor’s prognosis.
“I have to be honest with you,” he said. “When I am asked to prognosticate as to whether someone has six months to live or not, I am as often wrong as I am right.”
Opposition to the bill had been voiced by the leader of Catholics in England and Wales, Archbishop Richard Moth, who called it “wrong in principle” and “deeply flawed,” as well as the Church of England’s Archbishop of Canterbury, Sarah Mullally.
Medical colleges, including the Royal College of Psychiatrists, had also raised “serious concerns” about the bill, saying there were “too many unanswered questions about the safeguarding of people with mental illness.”
Proponents of “ assisted dying ” - sometimes referred to as “assisted suicide” - had hoped it would mark the biggest change to social policy in Britain since abortion was partially legalized in 1967. The intention was to put an end to the practice of those near the end of their lives going to other countries, such as Switzerland, for an assisted death.
Assisted suicide - where patients take a lethal drink prescribed by a doctor - is legal in countries including Australia, Belgium, Canada, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and parts of the U.S., with regulations on qualifying criteria varying by jurisdiction.
In July, French lawmakers backed a similar bill to allow adults with incurable illnesses to receive lethal medication. However, it hasn’t become law, because there will be a review to determine if it complies with the French Constitution.
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