Draft assisted dying legislation introduced into Scottish Parliament

March 28 (UPI) -- A draft of a bill that would change the law so that doctors and other medical professionals could help terminally ill people end their lives without fear of prosecution was introduced to the Scottish Parliament on Thursday.

The Assisted Dying Bill which is being tabled at Holyrood by Liberal Democrat MSP Liam McArthur with the backing of 36 other lawmakers, will face scrutiny and possible revision in the Health Committee and is not expected to be debated on the floor until the fall, with a vote sometime in 2025.

MSPs rejected two previous attempts 85-16 in 2010 and 82-36 in 2015, but the latest move follows polling of Scots showing 78% of respondents support the legalization of assisted dying in Scotland, against 15% who oppose it. Support held above 72%, regardless of district or party affiliation.

McArthur said he believed that with strong public and cross-party political backing for the measure, the time was now right.

"Currently in Scotland assisted dying is illegal, a situation that I believe is failing too many terminally ill Scots at the end of life," he said,

"It is leaving them facing traumatic deaths that impact not just them, but those that they leave behind. We can and must do better. That is why I am publishing my bill on assisted dying, which is being introduced formally in the Scottish Parliament today.

"The provisions I am proposing would be robustly safeguarded to ensure the process works as intended," said McArthur whose bill requires two doctors to certify a patient's mental competence and who would also be responsible for ensuring there was no coercion.

Patients would then administer the fatal medication dose themselves.

McArthur pointed to other countries, such as Australia, New Zealand and some U.S. states, where similar laws were working "safely and successfully" with ongoing strong public support.

"I hope that as they consider the provisions of the bill, my colleagues will look at the evidence supporting a change in the law and the wishes of dying Scots and vote to give terminally ill adults the choice they need," he said.

If passed, Scotland would become the first of the United Kingdom's four nations to enact the change which proponents argue would ease the pain and suffering of people with no prospect of recovery -- but opponents argue is a slippery slope.

They fear the terminally ill could feel pressure to die to relieve the cost and burden their care poses to their families and society -- and that the initial high bar determining who can opt for assisted dying may be lowered over time.

Opponents also said that support collapses well below 50% when all the facts and arguments are properly laid out to people.

Scottish leader, First Minister Humza Yousaf, has signaled he will not vote for the measure opposed by the country's main religious institutions -- the Catholic Church in Scotland, the Scottish Association of Mosques and the Church of Scotland.

However, in a shift last year, the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland voted to overhaul its long-held opposition, opting instead to "explore more deeply the diverse views held by Kirk members on the controversial subject."

In England, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer, the leader of the Labor opposition, have both promised assisted dying debates in the next Parliament with a general election due by the end of the year.