LONDON – (20 June 2025) UK MPs today voted by a majority of 23 to legalise assisted suicide.

Reacting to this news, Robert Clarke, Director of Advocacy for ADF International, said:

“Today’s vote to approve the Leadbeater Bill on assisted suicide—314 to 291—is a grave and chilling development for the United Kingdom. Parliament has signaled its willingness to cross a dangerous moral line: allowing the intentional ending of life as a form of healthcare. When the state begins to endorse death as a solution to suffering, the most vulnerable—those who are elderly, disabled, depressed, or alone—will soon find themselves wondering if their lives are still worth living, or worse, if they’re expected to die.

“The consequences of this decision will echo far beyond the chamber walls. It opens the door to coercion, and to lives cut short out of fear, despair, or pressure. No safeguard can undo the message this bill sends: that some lives are no longer worth protecting. At every stage, support for the bill has dropped and this narrow vote underscores the growing concern with this deeply flawed bill.

“Parliament has fundamentally failed to protect the country from a descent into a culture of death. As the bill moves forward, we urge the House of Lords to listen to the voices of doctors, disability advocates, and families who know that real compassion means care, not killing. A society that values life must have the courage to say no to assisted suicide.”