Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill

A bill put forward by Liam McArthur MSP to enable mentally competent, terminally ill adults to be provided with assistance to end their life, at their request. A proposal for this bill has been through public consultation and is expected to be introduced in 2023

Proposals for the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill were put forward for public consultation by Liam McArthur MSP  in 2021. The consultation ran from  23rd September to  22nd December 2021 and received the highest number of responses to date for a consultation on a Members Bill in the Scottish Parliament. 14,038 valid consultation responses submitted.

Liam McArthur MSP with the Scottish Parliament behind him
The Scottish Assisted Dying Bill was proposed by Liam McArthur

A report analysing the responses to the public consultation on the bill’s proposals was published in September 2022. A clear majority of respondents, 76%, were fully supportive of the proposal, with a further 2% partially supportive.

The proposals then needed the backing of MSPs to be granted the right to be introduced. In a matter of hours the required number of MSP signatories were secured. In total, thirty six MSPs backed the bill, double the number needed.

The next stages of the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill

The next step is drafting the bill. Once the final bill is drafted, it will be scrutinised by the Health Committee, before the Stage 1 debate and vote. No assisted dying bill and Scotland has progressed past this stage.

Then the bill can progress to Stage 2 – amendments, at this stage MSPs can propose changes. The amendments are debated and decided on at a meeting of a committee, likely to be the Health Committee again. Only the committee members can vote on amendments at this stage.

If any amendments are agreed to at Stage 2, a new (amended) version of the bill is published. This is the version considered at Stage 3. Stage 3 is the final debate and vote before a bill becomes law via Royal Assent.

How to support the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill

Scotland’s law on assisted dying is forcing people to suffer unnecessarily.

To end this injustice, we’re building the biggest ever public record of support for assisted dying in Scotland.

OFFICIAL RECORD OF SUPPORT FOR ASSISTED DYING – ADD YOUR NAME