Condemnation from churches, faith communities<\/p>\n
Narrowly approved by MPs in November 2024, despite condemnation<\/a> from churches and faith communities, it would make the U.K. the ninth European country after Austria, Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Switzerland to allow assisted suicide, which is also now legal<\/a> in 13 of 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.<\/p>\n However, while personally supported by Prime Minister Keir Starmer, the bill is opposed by his health and justice ministers. On Jan. 28, its House of Lords sponsor, Labour peer Lord Charles Falconer, conceded there was now \u201cabsolutely no hope\u201d of securing upper house approval before a current legislative agenda ends in early May.<\/p>\n In his OSV News interview, Leigh said the bill\u2019s backers had falsely claimed people were \u201cdying in agony\u201d because of a lack of provision for assisted suicide, while relying on opinion polls when society had \u201cnot been told the full story.\u201d<\/p>\n Safeguards have become \u2018meaningless\u2019<\/p>\n He added that experience abroad suggested proposed safeguards soon \u201cbecame meaningless,\u201d and said the bill should have been preceded by a royal commission and \u201cmonths and months of debate.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Baroness O\u2019Loan said the bill\u2019s sponsors had cut many corners, by failing to define terminal illness or provide for family consultation, professional training and effective scrutiny against coercion.<\/p>\n \u201cToday\u2019s secular emphasis on personal autonomy \u2014 my rights, my choice, my body \u2014 is now widely accepted, making it difficult to resist measures like this,\u201d said the Catholic peer, a former marriage counselor. \u201cBut we should never see this as a lost cause. While people sometimes reject what we say as Catholics, our voice carries across the legislative community. It\u2019s also supported by humanist peers, who may not use the language of sacredness but still believe human life should be protected.\u201d<\/p>\n Abortion up to birth<\/p>\n A separate amendment<\/a> to decriminalize abortion up to birth when \u201ccommitted by a woman acting in relation to her own pregnancy,\u201d was also debated Feb. 2 in the House of Lords, seven months after being tabled by a Labour Party MP and passed without public consultation after a brief debate.<\/p>\n The amendment coincides with mid-January government data showing a record 299,614 abortions, currently allowed up to 24 weeks, across the U.K. in 2023, about 11% up from the previous year.<\/p>\n Baroness O\u2019Loan, who lost an unborn child in a 1977 terrorist bombing in Northern Ireland, told OSV News most peers had opposed the amendment during the five-hour debate, suggesting it could also be blocked.<\/p>\n Abortion pills by mail still allowed<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Leigh described the abortion amendment as \u201coutrageous,\u201d adding that he was also shocked a COVID-era rule allowing abortion pills by mail had been maintained since the pandemic ended.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAll safeguards have been stripped away \u2014 abortion isn\u2019t policed properly, and the latest decriminalizing amendment is gravely retrograde,\u201d said the Catholic MP, who attends Mass daily and chairs an All-Party Parliamentary Group on the Holy See.<\/p>\n \u201cThe abortion limit should be tightened rather than extended. Yet when it comes to votes of abortion, we always lose heavily,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Catholics and history of Parliament<\/p>\n Catholics were barred from the U.K. parliament until an 1829 Catholic Emancipation Act<\/a>, but are now believed to make up at least 10% of the 650 MPs and 840 voting members of the House of Lords, with many belonging to an interdenominational group, Christians in Parliament<\/a>.<\/p>\n However, a dozen Catholic MPs voted for the July abortion liberalization, while Humanists-UK<\/a> said a record 40% of MPs had taken secular oaths after the U.K.\u2019s July 2024 election, including Starmer and half his 22-member Cabinet.<\/p>\n Britain\u2019s Catholic bishops have vigorously opposed the assisted suicide and abortion measures, and have also worked with Leigh, O\u2019Loan and other legislators in tackling child poverty and other moral and social issues.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/UK-ASSISTED-DYING-MP_1799697-1024x682.jpg\")
A protester holds a placard outside the Parliament in London Nov. 29, 2024, as British lawmakers debate a physician-assisted suicide bill. The House of Commons passed the bill 314 to 291, a majority of just 23 votes, on June 20, 2025. The measure is being debated in the House of Lords. (OSV News photo\/Mina Kim, Reuters)<\/p>\n