(Oregon Right to Life) — Scottish lawmakers rejected a bill Tuesday that would have legalized assisted suicide in the country, marking a conclusive moment in Scotland’s years-long debate concerning the legalization of the controversial practice. Assisted suicide is legal in numerous nations worldwide and over a dozen U.S. states, including Oregon.
Members of the Scottish Parliament voted 69-57 on March 17 against The Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults Bill following four days of debate, The Guardian reported. Pro-life advocates and others who promote life-affirming care for the elderly and vulnerable celebrated the bill’s defeat.
“Scotland chooses life,” Oxford-educated medical doctor and online commentator Dr. Calum Miller reacted on social media. “Beautiful.”
Scotland chooses life.
Beautiful. https://t.co/hr6j3s47FL
— Dr. Calum Miller (@DrCalumMiller) March 18, 2026
Alisdair Hungerford-Morgan, Chief Executive of Right To Life UK, said in a Tuesday press release that the rejection of the bill is “a great victory for the most vulnerable in our society” who “deserve protection and care, not a pathway to suicide.”
Pro-life advocates worldwide are strongly opposed to the legalization and expansion of assisted suicide, frequently pointing out that the practice is opposed to the dignity and sanctity of human life; that, in practice, it leads from the alleged “right to die” to an implicit “duty to die”; and that it unnecessarily opens avenues for coercion, manipulation, and abuse.
“If this legislation had passed, countless vulnerable people would have been pressured or coerced into ending their lives,” Hungerford-Morgan said.
In its Tuesday press release, Right to Life UK noted that a “large number of MSPs [Members of the Scottish Parliament] from across the political spectrum came together to give powerful speeches against the Bill,” making “it clear that this dangerous and extreme change to our laws would have put the vulnerable at risk and seen the ending of many vulnerable lives through assisted suicide.”
The UK pro-life group said opponents of the bill included “dozens of major medical bodies and organisations representing the most vulnerable in Scottish society,” including the Royal Pharmaceutical Society in Scotland, the Royal College of Psychiatrists in Scotland, and the Association of Palliative Medicine. A coalition of disability groups, including Disability Equality Scotland, Glasgow Centre for Inclusive Living, and Self Directed Support Scotland, also expressed opposition in a joint letter.
The final defeat of the bill, introduced by Liberal Democrat MSP Liam McArthur, came after a slate of last-minute proposed amendments failed to ameliorate the concerns of the bill’s many opponents, The Guardian noted.
Assisted suicide is currently legal in thirteen U.S. states, Washington, D.C., Canada, and numerous European countries.
In the U.S., Oregon was the first state to legalize physician-assisted suicide under the “Death With Dignity Act,” which took effect in 1997. The rate of assisted suicide prescriptions has increased in recent years, with a 30% jump in 2023 followed by an 8% increase the next year. As of the most recent annual report in 2024, 3,243 people have died after taking the lethal drugs since the practice became legal in Oregon, according to the Oregon Health Authority. Assisted suicides accounted for one in every 100 Oregon deaths in 2024.
RELATED: Founder of Assisted Suicide Organization Ends His Life Through ‘Voluntarily Assisted Dying’
Right to Life UK has suggested that the failure of the Scottish assisted suicide bill indicates that a similar outcome is on the horizon for a bill that would legalize the practice in England.
According to Hungerford-Morgan, “Holyrood [the location of the Scottish Parliament] has today sent a decisive message to Westminster by rejecting assisted suicide… Rather than ploughing on with their dangerous Bill, the Bill sponsors in Westminster must now follow Scotland’s example and accept that assisted suicide is not the answer. It cannot be introduced safely.”
The group also called on members of the Scottish parliament to work together now to ensure high-quality palliative care – rather than assisted suicide – is available for vulnerable Scots.
