Pro-Life Advocates Warn Against Attempt to Expand Eligibility Criteria in Assisted Suicide Bill

Proponents and opponents of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill demonstrate outside the Palace of Westminster, in London, England, on Nov. 29, 2024. Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire

Pro-life advocates have raised concerns over attempts to expand the eligibility criteria of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill.

On Thursday, Liberal Democrat MP Tom Gordon proposed an amendment to the bill which would allow adults with a neurodegenerative illness, disease, or medical condition with a life expectancy of up to 12 months to be eligible for assisted suicide.

Currently, the bill allows for only those with a terminal illness, disease, or medical condition to be eligible if their life expectancy is six months.

The amendment is an insertion to the original wording in the bill, which would cover England and Wales, and would only affect those with neurodegenerative conditions. All others are still restricted to the six-month timeframe.

6 Months ‘Too Late’

Gordon, who sits on the committee set to undertake more formal scrutiny of the bill next week, said on social media platform X that the bill “is about ensuring people facing painful deaths from terminal conditions can have the choice of how they die.”

He continued, “For people with neurodegenerative conditions, such as MND [motor neurone disease], the final six months may be too late to apply.”

The amendment “will ensure more people with neurodegenerative conditions will be able to access an assisted death if that is their choice,” he said.

The proposal is supported by fellow Liberal Democrats Vikki Slade and Anna Sabine; Labour MPs Lizzi Collinge, Cat Eccles, Neil Duncan-Jordan, and Rachel Hopkins; Conservative MP Alicia Kearns; and Green Party MP Sian Berry.

Humanists UK supports legalising assisted suicide and backs this amendment, saying that the “evidence is clear that the time limit currently in the Bill is not workable for those with neurodegenerative conditions and it needs to change.”

Restrictions Always up for Debate

Christian Action, Research, and Education (CARE) called the move to broaden the eligibility criteria even before Parliament has decided on the original parameters “both troubling and instructive.”

“A Bill that proponents describe as ‘narrow’ could be hijacked by those who wish to see a more permissive law,” James Mildred, director of communications and engagement at CARE, told The Epoch Times in a statement.

Mildred said that MPs should note the “fundamental problem” with assisted suicide legislation is that “its margins will always be up for debate.”

“If the law in the UK changes, it will inevitably be challenged by groups who believe they are being discriminated against by not having access to state assisted death,” Mildred said.

He added: “The potential for rules being relaxed over time—through direct challenge in the courts or in Parliament, or through changing practice within medicine—is one major reason not to open the door to assisted suicide at all. Instead, MPs ought to double down on life-affirming, ethical forms of support.”

Kim Leadbeater (left) is joined by daughter of Esther Rantzen, Rebecca Wilcox (right), after hearing the result of the vote in Parliament for her Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill in Westminster, London, on Nov. 29, 2024. Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire

Better Way likewise said on X: “The parameters of this ’strict‘ and ’narrow' law are already being debated, and it’s not even passed. If it is, groups who want access will push for expansion in parliament and through the courts. The global picture shows that rules get relaxed.”

Last year, Kevin Yuill, the CEO of Humanists Against Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia, told NTD’s “British Thought Leaders” that in other countries where assisted suicide was legalised—such as in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Canada—all pro-euthanasia activists had started their campaigns with similar restrictions in place, only for the scope to widen.

The bill is a Private Members Bill introduced by Labour MP Kim Leadbeater. When the bill was debated on Nov. 29, 2024, before MPs voted in favour of it, Leadbeater described the criteria as “very strict.”

Bill Can Be Defeated

Catherine Robinson, the spokeswoman for Right to Life UK, said that “MPs ought to reject this amendment along with the entire dangerous bill.”

Robinson told The Epoch Times in a statement that there was a possibility that the bill could be defeated at the third reading.

The proposed law had passed by a margin of 55, which she said was “far closer than many commentators expected, and this is just the start of a long journey through the Commons and Lords before it could become law.”

The Right to Life UK spokeswoman said that many MPs who had supported the bill had done so only to allow further debate and that if they had concerns, would not commit to supporting it at the third reading.

“With more time to understand the major issues with legalising assisted suicide, many other MPs could also shift to opposing this bill. If enough do, the bill will be defeated at third reading, preventing this dangerous law change from becoming law,” Robinson said.

The bill returns for scrutiny at committee stage on Feb. 11 and 12.