The bill Patrick Harvie inherited from Margo MacDonald was rejected in May 2015, but Orkney MSP Liam McArthur lodged a new “proposal for a Member’s Bill to enable competent adults who are terminally ill to be provided at their request with assistance to end their life” – assisted suicide for terminally ill adults without a specified life expectancy – on 22 September 2021.

A public consultation closed on 22 December 2021, with a report summarising the vast response published on 8 September 2022 and the bill was published in March 2024 followed by a Health Committee call for evidence, responses to which exposed widespread concerns.

Stage 1 debate will follow oral evidence sessions. Care Not Killing has supported experts in briefing MSPs at several dedicated sessions.

Liam McArthur’s Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill passed Stage 1 on 13 May, MSPs voting 70-56. There will be further scrutiny in Committee (Stage 2) before the Bill returns to Parliament for Stage 3 debate.

Visit our dedicated Scottish campaign website, carenotkilling.scot, for resources to use in contacting your MSPs to make clear your opposition to assisted suicide and euthanasia, and to ask their views on the subject.