Lawmakers in the Scottish Parliament will vote Tuesday on whether to make Scotland the first part of the United Kingdom to allow terminally ill adults to end their lives.
Members of the Edinburgh-based legislature have been given a free vote on the assisted dying bill, meaning they can decide according to their consciences, rather than along party lines. That makes it hard to predict the outcome of the decision, expected after 2200GMT.
Scotland is part of the U.K. — alongside England, Wales and Northern Ireland — and has a semi-autonomous government that has authority over many areas of policy, including health.
If the bill became law, people in Scotland with six months or less to live would be able to seek help to end their life. Two doctors would have to confirm the person was terminally ill and had the mental capacity to make the request.
Liberal Democrat lawmaker Liam McArthur, who drew up the Scottish bill, urged colleagues to back it.
“If you believe that dying people should not have to suffer against their will and you have heard, like I have, of the many instances where they have been simply failed by the lack of compassion and safety in our current law, you now have to back this bill,” he said. “It is time to look terminally ill Scots in the eye and make this change.”
Opponents of assisted dying have argued that disabled, elderly, ill and depressed people could be pressured to end their lives so they’re not a burden on others.
Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes of the governing Scottish National Party said she would vote against the bill. Some medical organizations, including the Royal College of Psychiatrists and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, are also opposed.
“Doctors, psychiatrists, pharmacists and palliative care specialists — the people who would be tasked with implementing this — are asking us not to do it,” Forbes said. “They think this bill is unsafe.”
A similar bill that would legalize assisted dying in England and Wales is currently bogged down in the British Parliament in London.
The House of Commons approved The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill in June, but it has been held up by more than 1,000 amendments in the House of Lords. Supporters of the bill say that is a stalling tactic by opponents. Some members of the chamber, however, say they are providing necessary scrutiny to strengthen the legislation.
It looks likely that the bill will not be passed by both houses of Parliament before the end of the current parliamentary session, expected in May. If that happens the bill will die and any new attempt to legalize assisted dying would have to start from scratch.
The islands of Jersey and the Isle of Man, which are British Crown possessions but not part of the U.K., have passed similar laws that are waiting for the formality of approval by King Charles III. Both small islands are self-governing but reliant on the U.K. for defense and some foreign affairs.
Assisted suicide — where patients take a lethal drink prescribed by a doctor — is legal in countries including Australia, Belgium, Canada, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and parts of the U.S., with regulations on qualifying criteria varying by jurisdiction.