The British Assisted Suicide bill can be defeated.

If Britain's parliament passes the assisted suicide bill, within a few years, a bill will be introduced to expand the bill, as has happened in nearly every US state and in Canada.

Alex Schadenberg

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, 

Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

The British parliament voted on Friday, November 29, 2024 (330 to 275) at second reading to support Kim Leadbeater's private members assisted suicide bill.

As I wrote on Friday, the battle is not over. The bill will be further scrutinized and committee hearings will occur before the final vote.

Some British MP's voted Yes to the assisted suicide bill but remain concerned about the implementation of a law. In other words, there are many MP's who may change their vote as they learn more about the bill.

Michael Savage, the Policy editor for the Observer wrote an article titled: Wavering supporters of assisted dying bill ' are not certain to vote it into law' that was published on November 30, 2024. Savage, who appears to support assisted suicide, states in his article:

A wavering group of MPs who backed parliament’s historic vote in favour of assisted dying may yet oppose its passage into law without further reassurances, the bill’s supporters are being warned, amid concerns that significant hurdles still remain.

There are concerns about how the bill will impact the National Health Service. Savage writes:

Health secretary Wes Streeting, who opposes the bill, has said it will have “resource implications” for the health service. Shabana Mahmood, the justice secretary, is also fiercely opposed.

Some MP's supported the bill because they felt that the "safeguards" in the current bill could protect people in vulnerable conditions from being coerced.

I have written several articles concerning the fact that nearly every US state that has legalized assisted suicide, later expanded their law.

When commenting on the bill that expanded the Colorado assisted suicide law, I explained that Oregon, California, Vermont, Washington State and Hawaii have also expanded their assisted suicide laws. Further to that, Compassion and Choices, an assisted suicide lobby group in the US has launched a lawsuit in New Jersey demanding the removal of their state assisted suicide law residency requirement.

Many of these states debated and defeated bills to legalize assisted suicide for many years, before finally approving an assisted suicide bill. Supporters of assisted suicide focus on creating a bill that sells the legalization of assisted suicide with the intention of expanding the law later.

For instance Connecticut assisted suicide supporters initiated an assisted suicide bill for eleven consecutive years, with it being defeated every time.

Josh Elliott, a three term member of the Connecticut House, and a sponsor of previous assisted suicide bills was interviewed by Paul Bass for the New Haven Independent on January 4, 2024. Bass reported:

The version he plans to resubmit this year has been narrowed to cover terminally ill people with prognoses of less than six months to live, with sign-offs from two doctors and a mental health professional, monthly check-ins, and at least a year of state residence.

“Almost no one” would qualify under that restricted version of the law, Elliott said. But passing it would open the door to evaluation and expansion.

Elliott explains that his goal is to pass a "restrictive" assisted suicide bill and then expand the law later.

J.M. Sorrell, Executive Director of Massachusetts Death with Dignity, was quoted on a similar bill as saying,

“Once you get something passed, you can always work on amendments later.”

The US assisted suicide lobby admit to their 'bait and switch' tactic, meaning, to get a tightly worded assisted suicide bill passed and then amend the law later.

Members of the British parliament need to recognize that the assisted suicide lobby realizes that it is harder to legalize assisted suicide than to expand the bill later. 

If Britain's parliament passes the Leadbeater assisted suicide bill, within a few years, a bill will be introduced to expand the bill, as has happened in nearly every US state and in Canada.