CV NEWS FEED // In November 2024, UK Parliament overwhelmingly supported a bill that would legalize assisted suicide. A new poll suggests many have switched to opposing it, The Times reported May 1.
Care Not Killing, a pro-life group that strengthens palliative care and opposes euthanasia, commissioned pollster Whitestone Insight to do the poll. The survey included 103 members of Parliament (MPs).
The assisted suicide bill is currently approaching its third reading in the House of Commons after being amended in the committee stage. Ahead of another vote, 42% said they would vote against the bill, 36% said they would vote for it, 13% were undecided, 5% said they would abstain, and 8% did not say.
In November, the bill passed 330 to 275. Since then, however, many supporters of the bill have changed their minds thanks to a controversial amendment that made it easier to commit assisted suicide. The Times reported that the amendment no longer requires a High Court judge to approve each request for assisted suicide. CatholicVote previously reported that instead, applications for assisted suicide would be heard by a lawyer, a psychiatrist, and a social worker.
The poll also asked MPs if they thought the amendment gave them more confidence in the bill. Forty-one percent said no and 30% said yes.
CatholicVote also reported that another amendment extended the bill’s implementation until 2029. The amendment could also cost the bill some votes, as 2029 is a general election year in which lawmakers might rethink supporting a controversial bill that could hurt their own chances of an election victory.
Gordon Macdonald, chief executive of Care Not Killing, said, “The more MPs hear about assisted suicide and what it entails, the less likely they are to support changing the law.”
He stated, according to The Times, “Clearly MPs recognise that removing the requirement for every application to be overseen by the High Court — part of a formal judicial process with the duty to consider all views and the power to summon witnesses — makes the bill much less safe, while the rejection of amendments aimed at protecting the most vulnerable people in our society is making many people think again.”