MANCHESTER, England (CN) - After Scotland's Parliament voted to reject a bill that would have legalized assisted dying, similar legislation in England is stalling in Parliament.

Lawmakers at Holyrood, the name of the Scottish Parliament, defeated the proposal late Tuesday 69 to 57 after an emotional final debate that exposed deep divisions over end-of-life care and protections for vulnerable people.

The bill, introduced by Liberal Democrat lawmaker Liam McArthur, would have allowed mentally competent, terminally ill adults to seek medical help to end their lives under strict conditions. 

Patients would have needed to make two formal declarations and pass checks to ensure they were not coerced.

McArthur said opponents offered a "woefully inadequate response to the suffering and trauma experienced by dying Scots and their families." 

Speaking after the vote, he said he was "devastated" but warned the issue would not go away.

The result matters beyond Scotland.

A nearly identical bill covering England and Wales has already been approved by the House of Commons, the elected lower chamber of Parliament, but is now unlikely to become law before the current session ends in May.

In the U.K.'s parliamentary system, legislation must pass both the Commons and the unelected upper chamber, the House of Lords, before becoming law.

The Lords can delay and amend bills but not ultimately block them, although time constraints can effectively kill legislation.

That is now the risk facing the assisted dying bill in London.

More than 1,200 amendments have been tabled in the Lords, many by opponents, and only a handful of debate days remain. 

Supporters say it is "effectively impossible" for the bill to clear all stages before the deadline.

More than 100 lawmakers from Prime Minister Keir Starmer's Labour Party have written to him urging time to complete the process, warning failure could undermine trust in politics. 

Around 150 lawmakers across parties have backed the appeal.

Peter Prinsley, a Labour lawmaker and doctor who organized the letter, said Parliament must not avoid a decision on an issue of "great importance" to the public.

Opponents argue the bill still contains serious flaws. Labour lawmaker Jess Asato said any effort to push it through would be "unsafe and would harm vulnerable people."

Those concerns echoed loudly in Edinburgh.

Several Scottish lawmakers said they feared terminally ill patients could feel pressured into ending their lives. 

Independent lawmaker Jeremy Balfour warned disabled people were "terrified" of the proposal and said it opened "a Pandora's box" with "no meaningful protection" against coercion.

Pam Duncan-Glancy, a wheelchair user, urged colleagues to "choose to make it easier to live than to die."

Others questioned safeguards for doctors who object to assisted dying and raised concerns about oversight. 

Some also argued the focus should be on improving palliative care.

Ruth Maguire of the governing Scottish National Party, who has cervical cancer and is standing down at the next election, said access to high-quality care is essential for genuine choice. 

"It's not a free choice if you do not have access to good palliative care," she said. "My blood runs cold thinking about sitting in a room in hospital and having a doctor raise [assisted dying] with me as we weigh up treatment options."

Supporters argued that assisted dying and palliative care are not mutually exclusive.

Many other lawmakers shared personal stories of relatives who suffered at the end of life.

Outside Parliament, campaign groups split sharply.

Humanists UK said lawmakers had "failed suffering people and their families," while Dignity in Dying Scotland vowed to continue campaigning. 

Opponents, including Care Not Killing, welcomed the result as a safeguard for vulnerable people.

Public opinion in Britain has long leaned toward some form of assisted dying, though support varies depending on how the question is framed. 

YouGov polling shows more people favor legal change than oppose it, with support consistently between 40-48% and opposition between 28-32% - with a significant share remaining undecided.

The Scottish vote was the third attempt to legalize assisted dying since Holyrood was established in 1999 and the first to reach a final stage. 

In London, the fate of the England and Wales bill now hinges less on votes than on time.

Starmer has so far maintained neutrality, reflecting a long-standing tradition that ethical issues are decided by lawmakers voting according to conscience rather than party lines.

If the bill fails, supporters are likely to try again in the next parliamentary session. 

But under current rules, bills that are not introduced by the government rarely become law without strong backing and time set aside for debate.

Despite the setbacks in Scotland and England, assisted dying is already legal in two self-governing British dependencies: Jersey and the Isle of Man. 

These islands, which sit outside the U.K.'s parliamentary system, approved legislation in recent years allowing terminally ill adults to seek medical assistance to end their lives under strict safeguards, making them the only parts of the British Isles where the practice is permitted.

Courthouse News reporter James Francis Whitehead is based in England

Source: Courthouse News Service