Trump administration blasts UK over assisted suicide legalization

The Trump administration has slammed the United Kingdom for advancing legislation to legalize assisted suicide, calling it “state-subsidized suicide” and urging lawmakers to reject it.

“As the UK Parliament considers support for state-subsidized suicide, euphemistically called a bill for ‘Terminally Ill Adults,’ the United States reaffirms the sanctity of life,” the U.S. Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor posted on X. “The western world should stand for life, vitality, and hope over surrender and death.”

Scott Fischbach, executive director of National Right to Life, praised the administration for speaking out against the bill.

“This isn’t about political intrusion, this is about moral clarity,” Fischbach said in a statement. “When human life is on the line, silence is complicity. We commend the Bureau for taking a bold stand.” 

The statement came after the UK House of Commons voted 314-291 to pass the bill last month, which would allow assisted suicide for terminally ill adults expected to live six months or less. The vote was a free vote, meaning party whips didn’t pressure MPs to vote along a party line. 

Labour MP Dan Carden, who voted against the proposal, told the Guardian: “I genuinely fear the legislation will take us in the wrong direction. The values of family, social bonds, responsibilities, time and community will be diminished, with isolation, atomisation and individualism winning again.” 

The bill now heads to the House of Lords, the more conservative of the two chambers. However, the upper chamber cannot block legislation. It can delay the implementation of measures and recommend amendments to them.  

Eleven U.S. states, primarily Democrat-led ones, have legalized assisted suicide. Since legalizing it, some states have expanded the scope of the practice. For example, Oregon and Vermont scrapped residency requirements for out-of-staters in 2022 and 2023 respectively.  

Additionally, Colorado enacted a law last year trimming the waiting period between oral requests from 15 days to seven, creating waiting-period waivers for some patients and letting advanced practice registered nurses prescribe it.  

New York may become the 12th state to legalize assisted suicide. Both chambers of its state legislature have approved a measure to legalize it, so it will become law if Gov. Kathy Hochul signs the legislation this year. 

Canada legalized assisted suicide in 2016. By 2022, it became the country’s fifth-leading cause of death, increasing from 1,018 cases in 2016 to 13,241 cases six years later.