Why British MPs should vote for assisted dying A long-awaited liberal reform is in jeopardy
So do two-thirds of Britons, who for decades have been in favour of assisted dying for those enduring unbearable suffering. And so do the citizens of many other democracies—18 jurisdictions have passed laws in the past decade.
The rights and wrongs of assisted dying Britain’s next great social reform is coming. Here’s how it should work
Britain has become a much more liberal country in recent decades. In 1981 only 12% of Britons thought that homosexuality was justifiable, according to the World Values Survey; in 2022 the figure was 66%. Over the same period the proportion of people who were accepting of divorce rose from 18% to 64%.
Switzerland seems to be the only country in which the law limits the circumstances in which assisted suicide is a crime, thereby decriminalising it in other cases, without requiring the involvement of a physician. Consequently, non-physicians have participated in assisted suicide. The law has explicitly separated the issue of whether or not assisting death should be allowed in some circumstances, from that of whether physicians should do it. This separation has not resulted in moral desensitisation of assisted suicide and euthanasia.
