Assisted Suicide bill defeated in Scotland by a 82 to 36 vote.

By Alex Schadenberg

International Chair - Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

The Scottish assisted suicide bill was just defeated in parliament by a vote of 82 - 36.

The defeat of the assisted suicide bill was predicted by the Care Not Killing Alliance earlier in the week when they announced that 59 MSP's opposed the bill with another 17 MSP's leaning towards opposing the bill.

The day before the vote, Alison Britton, the convener of the Law Society's health and medical law committee in Scotland said that the assisted suicide bill lacked clarity and would be difficult to enforce. Britton stated:

We have said throughout the passage of this Bill that legislation in this area needs to be absolutely clear and those seeking to end their lives, and those who assist them, need a robust and transparent process to be certain under which conditions it would be lawful for assistance to be provided. 

We remain concerned over the lack of definition of the key terms, such as 'assistance' and 'life-shortening' and the functions of the licensed facilitator are still uncertain. 

Lack of such clarity leads to ambiguity and leaves the legislation open to interpretation.

Dr Gordon Macdonald

The week before the vote the Care Not Killing Alliance presented a petition of 15,300 people who oppose the assisted suicide bill.

The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition congratulates Dr Gordon Macdonald and all of the members of the Care Not Killing Alliance for effectively defeating this dangerous bill.

Assisted suicide is unethical and unsafe. It is wrong to give doctors, or others, the right in law to assist in causing the death of another person.