MSPs voted against the legislation by 57 votes to 69 with one abstention
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The Scottish Parliament has rejected plans to legalise assisted dying for terminally ill adults in Scotland.
MSPs have voted down a Bill that would have made Scotland the first nation in the UK to legalise assisted dying.
Holyrood rejected the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill, brought forward by Liberal Democrat MSP Liam McArthur, by 57 to 69, with Health Secretary Neil Gray having announced earlier in the day he would abstain.
The decision came after opponents of the Bill raised concerns about the impact the legislation could have on vulnerable and disabled people – while others raised concerns about a lack of safeguards for medical professionals opting out of the process.
It comes after Liam McArthur told MSPs voting the proposals down would have “consequences”.
Speaking ahead of the vote, Mr McArthur said if the legislation was rejected the “issue won’t go away”.
He added: “All we do by putting off changing the law is push decisions overseas and behind closed doors.”
Mr McArthur told MSPs to “have the voices of dying Scots at the front of their mind when they come to vote”, stressing the need for Holyrood to give them “more choice, more dignity, more compassion”.
Prior to the vote, Mr McArthur said the Bill, if passed, would be the “most heavily safeguarded assisted dying law anywhere in the world”.
The vote comes after Holyrood spent several lengthy sessions last week amending the proposed legislation, inserting a clause which means a person would have to reasonably be expected to die within six months before they could request an assisted death.
Under the rejected legislation, only people who have lived in Scotland for at least a year would have been eligible and people would have needed to have two doctors certify they have a terminal illness and the mental capacity to request help to die.
The Scottish government had taken a neutral stance on the Bill, and MSPs were not whipped by their parties on how to vote.
