Bishops hail Scottish lawmakers for rejecting assisted dying; UK faces pivotal abortion vote

Scottish Catholic bishops welcomed Parliament’s decision to reject the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill March 17 — a move shelving a measure that would have allowed eligible adults “to lawfully request, and be provided with, assistance by health professionals to end their own life.”

Members of the Scottish Parliament, known as Holyrood, “can be confident that they have taken the correct and responsible course of action,” the country’s bishops’ conference president said in a March 17 statement.

“Their vote serves to protect some of Scotland’s most vulnerable individuals from the risk of being pressured into a premature death,” Bishop John Keenan of Glasgow said.

“Every human life possesses inherent value. Genuine compassion is not expressed through ending a life, but through accompanying those who suffer and ensuring they receive the medical, emotional, and spiritual support that recognises their dignity. No life is without worth,” the statement read.

The bill was introduced in March 2024 by Scottish parliamentarian Liam McArthur. According to the bill, eligibility requirements included a person who is 18 years of age or older, terminally ill, and must “have sufficient capacity to make and understand the decision.” The bill was amended recently to raise the minimum age from 16 to 18. The bill would have been the first one in the United Kingdom — which Scotland is a part of, along England, Wales and Northern Island — to allow assisted dying for terminally ill adults.

Holyrood parliamentarians “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,” The Associated Press reported.

“As a society, our responsibility is not to address suffering by eliminating the sufferer, but to surround each person with care, respect, and dignity until their natural end,” the Scottish bishop wrote, adding that the March 17 decision “moves Scotland further in that direction.”

That also requires specific action, the statement underlined. “Our next priority must be to strengthen palliative care by ensuring that it is properly funded and accessible to all who require it,” it said.

Advocacy groups opposing the measure called the 69-to-57 vote a decisive “major victory” moment, possibly influencing future debates across the U.K. It was recently reported that the British Parliament may eventually reject the long-debated U.K. legislation that would allow assisted suicide.

Right to Life said in its March 17 statement that David Bol, deputy political editor of The Scotsman, described the final vote on the bill as “potentially the biggest decision in the history of the Scottish Parliament,” a sentiment echoed by other prominent political commentators.

Scottish public had “major concerns with legalizing assisted suicide and the negative impact that it would have on the most vulnerable in Scotland,” Right to Life said, citing recent statistics.

A women’s policy think tank, The Other Half, found that 7 in 10 Scots were concerned that victims of domestic abuse could feel pressured into ending their lives if assisted dying were legalized.

“After eating disorder campaigners warned that people with eating disorders would be eligible for assisted suicide under the Bill, the think tank published polling that found that only one in five Scots would support legislation that allowed patients with anorexia to end their lives by assisted suicide,” the organization said.

Meanwhile, the advocacy group Not Dead Yet UK revealed that 69% of Scottish adults agreed that the Scottish Parliament should prioritize improving access to care for people with disabilities before an assisted suicide bill would be introduced, Right to Life said, adding that only 18% of Scots disagreed.

Expressing his gratitude to the members of the Scottish Parliament, Bishop Keenan said he is “especially grateful to those who upheld the principle of human dignity and advocated on behalf of the vulnerable. Your principled commitment has not gone unnoticed.”

While the British assisted suicide bill is expected to fail as a consequence of the Scottish parliamentary decision — concerns rise for other life issues in British legislation.

On March 18, the House of Lords will be voting on an amendment to remove a clause in the Crime and Policing Bill which decriminalizes abortion. Under this clause, it would no longer be illegal for women to perform their own abortions for any reason, at any point up to and during birth.

“Clause 208, which decriminalizes abortion, was inserted into the Crime and Policing Bill after an amendment was passed in the House of Commons last June, following just 46 minutes of debate,” advocacy organization Christian Concern said in a March 18 press release, announcing a demonstration in London “to gather in opposition to abortion vote in the House of Lords.”

Organized by Christian Concern, Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, March for Life UK and other pro-life campaign groups, the demonstration is expected to gather “hundreds” to ask members of Parliament to reject abortion up to birth.

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