Scottish lawmakers reject bill to let terminally ill people end their lives
A similar bill that would legalise assisted dying in England and Wales is currently bogged down in the British Parliament in London
Lawmakers in the Scottish Parliament on Tuesday rejected legislation that would have made Scotland the first part of the United Kingdom to allow terminally ill adults to end their lives.
Members of the Edinburgh-based legislature voted 69 to 57 against a bill that would have let people in Scotland with six months or less to live seek help to end their life. There was one abstention.
It came after an emotional debate that lasted around three hours and saw lawmakers tear up and applaud as they took turns to express their views on the issue.
They had been given a free vote on the assisted dying bill, which meant they could decide according to their consciences, rather than along party lines.
Scotland is part of the United Kingdom – alongside England, Wales and Northern Ireland – and has a semi-autonomous government that has authority over many areas of policy, including health.
Liberal Democrat lawmaker Liam McArthur, who drew up the Scottish bill, had urged colleagues to back it.
“If you believe that dying people should not have to suffer against their will and you have heard, like I have, of the many instances where they have been simply failed by the lack of compassion and safety in our current law, you now have to back this bill,” he said. “It is time to look terminally ill Scots in the eye and make this change.”