--- title: Why the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill fell date: 2026-04-23T11:42:00+01:00 author: Chris Ringland canonical_url: "https://www.eauk.org/news-and-views/why-the-assisted-dying-for-terminally-ill-adults-scotland-bill-fell" section: Articles --- Share [](https://www.facebook.com/dialog/share?app_id=1769260916495219&href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.eauk.org%2Fnews-and-views%2Fwhy-the-assisted-dying-for-terminally-ill-adults-scotland-bill-fell) [](https://x.com/intent/tweet?text=Why%20the%20Assisted%20Dying%20for%20Terminally%20Ill%20Adults%20%28Scotland%29%20Bill%20fell&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.eauk.org%2Fnews-and-views%2Fwhy-the-assisted-dying-for-terminally-ill-adults-scotland-bill-fell) [](https://www.facebook.com/dialog/send?app_id=1769260916495219&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.eauk.org%2Fnews-and-views%2Fwhy-the-assisted-dying-for-terminally-ill-adults-scotland-bill-fell&link=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.eauk.org%2Fnews-and-views%2Fwhy-the-assisted-dying-for-terminally-ill-adults-scotland-bill-fell&display=popup) [](mailto:?subject=Shared%20from%20Evangelical%20Alliance&body=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.eauk.org%2Fnews-and-views%2Fwhy-the-assisted-dying-for-terminally-ill-adults-scotland-bill-fell) #### The debate and vote that took place on St Patrick’s Day was one of the most significant parliamentary events to take place since devolution in 1999. While there had been two previous bills (the End of Life Assistance Bill in 2010 and the Assisted Suicide Bill in 2015), no bill had reached stage 3, the final part of the legislative process before a bill becomes law in Scotland. Over this session of the Scottish Parliament, we have met and engaged with MSPs on our membership’s behalf to express our deep concerns about the bill in principle, to highlight specific ways in which we foresaw serious implications for society should the bill pass, and to show where we thought specific provisions of the bill could be hugely problematic. While ultimately we come to the bill from a faith-based perspective, we were far from alone in having such concerns; many other individuals and organisations across Scotland also engaged with MSPs. The member in charge of the bill, Liam McArthur MSP, and those MSPs who supported the proposals did so and do so from a place of compassion. It’s important to acknowledge this. Throughout the passage of this bill, many stories were shared by MSPs themselves and by members of the public of horrendous suffering that individuals had gone through in illness and their deaths. While we don’t think the bill was an answer to these experiences, we need to listen with the utmost compassion to these experiences of suffering and act upon what much more we can do for dying Scots at the end of their lives. Sponsored[](#) [ ![](data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%271%27%20height%3D%271%27%20style%3D%27background%3Atransparent%27%2F%3E) ](https://www.oakhill.ac.uk/admissions/open-days) The bill was introduced in 2024 after the proposal received at the time the highest number of consultation responses in the history of the Scottish Parliament (over 14,000). In the Scottish Parliament’s legislative process, stage 1 is about the general principles of a bill, stage 2 is for the relevant committee to vote on amendments, and stage 3 is the whole parliament voting on amendments before a final debate and vote before becoming law: - At stage 1, the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee took evidence from various stakeholders about the bill before it made no overall recommendation on whether the bill should proceed. The bill subsequently passed stage 1 in a [vote](https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/votes-and-motions/S6M-17416) of 70 for, 56 against and one abstention in May 2025; - At stage 2, the committee voted on proposed amendments to the bill. 298 were lodged and 74 were accepted, becoming part of the bill. There is no vote at stage 2, so the bill automatically progressed to stage 3; - At stage 3, the Scottish Parliament sat for several days for very long hours to amend the bill further, before a final debate and vote on 17 March 2026. The final [vote](https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/votes-and-motions/S6M-21005) was 57 for, 69 against and one abstention. There were many reasons why the bill fell. However, three key reasons as part of MSPs’ considerations came up in the final vote several times: **Risk of coercion towards the most vulnerable** Pam Duncan-Glancy (Independent, Glasgow): “It is inconceivable to suggest that the introduction of assisted dying is about choice when disabled people do not have choices in life. In a world where so many have little or no choice, we cannot risk making death the only choice that they ever have. If the bill passes, in a world of inequality it will be easier to access help to die than help to live. That is why I am asking colleagues to vote against the bill tonight.” Former First Minister Humza Yousaf (SNP, Glasgow Pollok): “Even many of the bill’s strongest supporters have had to concede that there is no absolute, cast-iron safeguard against coercion. Coercion is not always loud. It is not always an overt threat. Sometimes it is quieter than that. Sometimes it is a look, a sigh, a hesitation, a sense that you are a burden, a feeling that your family would simply be better off without you. That is what troubles me the most…When disabled people’s organisations and domestic abuse organisations and experts warn us, and when those who know what it is like to live with dependency tell us that this law could expose people to pressure that they may never name as coercion, we should not just hear them – we should listen to them.” Jeremy Balfour (Independent, Lothian): “Disabled people are frightened, and I ask my colleagues to put themselves in their shoes and my shoes. Imagine that you relied on your family and friends to make daily sacrifices to help you to get up, dress and be ready for the day. Imagine that you had been told by many people, including a number of politicians, that you were a burden on society and that the benefits that you rely on to survive could be better spent elsewhere. I want you to imagine that, on numerous occasions, you have heard the words, ​“I’d rather die than live like you.” How do you think you would feel, watching this debate? I think you would, rightly, feel terrified.” Alex Rowley (Labour, Mid Scotland & Fife): “Only four weeks ago, I raised a question in the parliament on the report published by Marie Curie showing that one in three people in Scotland die with unmet palliative care needs… I say again that if you are dying and you are not able to access the support and care that you need, but you are able to access an assisted death, you are being denied the choice of life. That cannot be right and it is not right.” **Conscientious objection** Jamie Hepburn (SNP, Cumbernauld & Kilsyth): “I am also concerned that parliament has found itself in the unsatisfactory position of not being able to legislate for the protection of conscientious opt out for medical professionals.” Ruth Maguire (SNP, Cunninghame South): “If the bill is passed, institutions will not be able to make a choice to opt out, meaning that some valued hospices and care homes will close at a time when we really need them, and doctors will not have a choice to opt out. It is a fact that those protections have been stripped out of the bill. There are no guarantees on what they will look like, and this parliament will not be able to scrutinise or amend them.” **Change in the doctor-patient relationship** Alasdair Allan (SNP, Na h-Eileanan an Iar): “I was personally surprised that parliament did not accept an institutional right to opt out. Like Mr Hepburn, I was also genuinely taken aback when parliament rejected some of Mr Johnson’s amendments. They would have prohibited doctors, rather than patients, from initiating a conversation about assisted dying. For older patients from many backgrounds, a doctor is still an authority figure, and some people have told me that they simply lack the confidence to ever contradict a doctor.” Sue Webber (Conservative, Lothian): “I also remain concerned about how an assisted dying service would sit within the NHS. If such a service were ever legalised, it must never become an expectation placed on patients or clinicians, yet the structure of the bill risks embedding it as a normal part of NHS provision.” Bob Doris (SNP, Glasgow Maryhill & Springburn): “It is of concern to me that the bill does not prevent any GP from raising assisted dying with a patient. My concern is that a GP raising such a measure would not be a neutral act, even if it was intended – I am sure that it would be – to be so. In some circumstances, it would compromise the doctor-patient relationship.” A noteworthy contribution was also made by John Mason (Independent, Glasgow Shettleston): “At the end of the day, no one really wants declining health or a death, yet they are part of the human condition. One big difference for those of us with a Christian belief is that we are promised life after death, so however hard our lives might have been – and, for that matter, however hard our deaths might have been – there is something better available to look forward to.” These contributions from MSPs go a long way to explaining why, after a huge amount of consideration, 69 MSPs voted against the final bill. It’s also clear that Christians from all over Scotland and beyond were lifting this entire legislative process to God in prayer. And likewise, that so many individuals from all over Scotland engaged with their MSPs on this most important of issues over several years. Thank you to our membership for doing so. It’s now for us as Christians to reflect on where we go from here in loving, supporting and caring for the most vulnerable in society. How do we support those who are terminally ill? What are we doing to ensure complete inclusion in all of life for disabled people? How are we upholding and encouraging medical professionals and volunteers who look after people in the most difficult times in their lives? These are huge questions, and it is right that we should be challenged to act upon them. As we now move into a new session of the Scottish Parliament, this is an opportune time to have that personal reflection. “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy” – Proverbs 31:8–9 (NIV) *Quotes are taken from the Scottish Parliament Official Report. Contains information licensed under the Scottish Parliament Copyright Licence.* [ ![Eight reasons we are urging MSPs to vote against the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill](data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%271%27%20height%3D%271%27%20style%3D%27background%3Atransparent%27%2F%3E) ![National cancer institute N Fvd K Ihx Yl U unsplash](https://eauk.org/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto,quality=90,width=400,fit=cover/https://cdn.eauk.org/national-cancer-institute-NFvdKIhxYlU-unsplash.jpg) ](https://www.eauk.org/news-and-views/eight-reasons-we-are-urging-msps-to-vote-against-the-assisted-dying-for-terminally-ill-adults-scotland-bill) [#### Eight reasons we are urging MSPs to vote against the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill ](https://www.eauk.org/news-and-views/eight-reasons-we-are-urging-msps-to-vote-against-the-assisted-dying-for-terminally-ill-adults-scotland-bill) The bill would permanently change how we approach end-of-life healthcare [ ![Chris Ringland](data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%271%27%20height%3D%271%27%20style%3D%27background%3Atransparent%27%2F%3E) ](/author/chris-ringland) [ Chris Ringland ](/author/chris-ringland) 06 May 2025 [](https://www.eauk.org/news-and-views/eight-reasons-we-are-urging-msps-to-vote-against-the-assisted-dying-for-terminally-ill-adults-scotland-bill) [ ![MSPs must vote against the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults Bill at its final stage](data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%271%27%20height%3D%271%27%20style%3D%27background%3Atransparent%27%2F%3E) ![Scottish parliament](https://eauk.org/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto,quality=90,width=400,fit=cover/https://cdn.eauk.org/Scottish-parliament.jpg) ](https://www.eauk.org/news-and-views/msps-must-vote-against-the-assisted-dying-for-terminally-ill-adults-bill-at-its-final-stage) [#### MSPs must vote against the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults Bill at its final stage ](https://www.eauk.org/news-and-views/msps-must-vote-against-the-assisted-dying-for-terminally-ill-adults-bill-at-its-final-stage) Chris Ringland shares the latest on the bill in Scotland and what happens next [ ![Chris Ringland](data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%271%27%20height%3D%271%27%20style%3D%27background%3Atransparent%27%2F%3E) ](/author/chris-ringland) [ Chris Ringland ](/author/chris-ringland) 21 January 2026 [](https://www.eauk.org/news-and-views/msps-must-vote-against-the-assisted-dying-for-terminally-ill-adults-bill-at-its-final-stage) --- ### About Chris Ringland ![]()Chris joined the Evangelical Alliance as public policy officer for Scotland in 2021. In this role he represents our membership of churches, organisations and individuals to the Scottish Government and Scottish Parliament, seeking to make Jesus known. He has also completed the Evangelical Alliance's Public Leadership programme. Previously, Chris worked in the Scottish Parliament. He is originally from Northern Ireland and completed degrees in both Geography & Politics and Public Policy in Scotland, and is a massive West Ham United fan (champions of Europe 2023). He is married to Eilidh. [See more from Chris Ringland](/author/chris-ringland)