A Fatal Flaw: Why Scotland's Assisted Suicide Bill is Falling Apart

Scotland is on the brink of passing one of the most consequential laws in its history — yet the ground beneath the proposed assisted suicide bill is visibly crumbling.

In recent weeks, MSPs who previously backed the legislation have expressed significant reservations, warning that the bill cannot protect vulnerable people from pressure to end their lives prematurely. Audrey Nicoll, a former police officer with 31 years’ experience, now says she will vote against the law because it exposes vulnerable Scots to “coercion and pressure…in ways which may be subtle and difficult to enunciate.”

Her reversal is not an isolated case. Other MSPs admit they can no longer support the bill in its current form, raising doubts about whether it can survive the final vote.

Their concerns are well‑founded. Key safeguards have already been rejected or removed. Amendments requiring doctors to receive specialist training in detecting coercion or ensuring that palliative or social care is offered before proceeding were dismissed during committee scrutiny. Even protections for healthcare workers who object on moral grounds cannot remain in the bill, because they fall under UK‑wide law and will need to be fixed after the Bill passes. This means that MSPs will be asked to vote blindfolded on a matter of life and death and then hand the reins to Westminster to finish the job. Labour MSP Michael Marra said this significant setback effectively “holes the bill below the waterline.”

Worse still, experience abroad shows that eligibility criteria tend to expand once assisted suicide is legalised. In Canada, what began as a narrow system for the terminally ill has widened dramatically, with those suffering only mental health conditions set to qualify next year. Audrey Nicoll warns that such “gradual broadening” is a real and foreseeable risk. Scotland would not be immune.

Supporters of the bill claim Scotland must show compassion. They are right — just not in the way they imagine. Compassion means ensuring people have access to excellent palliative care, emotional support, and a dignified death. It does not mean constructing a hurried, legally unstable system of state-assisted suicide that even its former advocates no longer trust to protect the vulnerable.

When a law dealing with irreversible decisions is rushed, weakened, and riddled with unanswered questions, the responsible course is clear: stop. Scotland should reject this dangerous bill and insist on a system that protects life, safeguards the vulnerable, and upholds the highest ethical and legal standards.

Anthony Horan, Director, Catholic Parliamentary Office for Scotland

Today, Bishop Joseph Toal of the Diocese of Motherwell visited the Dysart Carmel Sisters, accompanied by four recently ordained priests and Deacon Kieran, who will be ordained to the priesthood later this year.

Together they celebrated Holy Mass in their chapel before spending time with the sisters in the community room.

The sisters spoke of the great joy it was to meet young priests so cheerfully dedicated to their ministry, and they continue to pray for them, asking God to bless Scotland with many faithful and generous priests.

Today, Pope Leo XIV received Marcello Semeraro, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, and authorised him to promulgate a series of decrees concerning future beatifications and new declarations of heroic virtue.

The Holy Father approved decrees recognising the martyrdom of Fr Augusto Rafael Ramírez Monasterio, a priest of the Order of Friars Minor, and a miracle attributed to the intercession of Sr Maria Ignazia Isacchi, founder of the Congregation of the Ursulines of the Sacred Heart of Jesus of Asola. As a result, both will be proclaimed Blessed.

Fr Augusto Rafael Ramírez Monasterio
Fr Augusto Rafael Ramírez Monasterio was born in Guatemala City on 5 November 1937 into a large and devout Catholic family. Having discerned a religious vocation, he began his Franciscan novitiate in Jumilla, Spain, and after completing studies in philosophy and theology was ordained a priest on 18 June 1967.

In 1978 he became guardian and parish priest of San Francisco el Grande in Antigua, Guatemala, where he dedicated himself to parish life and to the poor and defenceless during the country’s civil war. Arrested on 2 June 1983, he was tortured and later released, but remained under surveillance and received repeated death threats. On 7 November 1983 he was seized again by soldiers and killed during a transfer to the outskirts of the city. The decree recognises that he was killed out of hatred for the faith.

Sr Maria Ignazia Isacchi
Maria Ignazia Isacchi, born Angela Caterina and known as Ancilla, was born on 8 May 1857 in Stezzano, in the Italian province of Bergamo. She entered the Ursuline Sisters of Somasca just after the age of twenty and was later elected Superior General.

She transferred the motherhouse to Asola and continued to lead the institute there until 1924, when poor health forced her resignation. She was nevertheless named Superior General for life ad honorem. She died on 19 August 1934 in Seriate and was declared Venerable in 2022.

The miracle attributed to her intercession concerns the healing in 1950 of Sister Maria Assunta Zappella, who suffered from severe abdominal pain caused by enterocolitis of probable tubercular origin. At the end of a novena, the sister experienced a sudden improvement. Medical examinations the following day showed a regression of the illness, and doctors noted an unexpected and complete recovery within a short time.

Gospel of the day (Mark 3:7-12)

At that time: Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and a great crowd followed, from Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem and Idumea and from beyond the Jordan and from around Tyre and Sidon. When the great crowd heard all that he was doing, they came to him. And he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they crush him, for he had healed many, so that all who had diseases pressed around him to touch him. And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, ‘You are the Son of God.’ And he strictly ordered them not to make him known.

Very little is known with certainty about Saint Agnes, other than that she was martyred at a remarkably young age, likely around twelve or thirteen, during the persecutions of the late third century.

Early accounts tell of a young Christian girl who refused marriage because of her faith. According to tradition, her rejection of suitors led to her being reported to the authorities as a Christian. She was arrested and subjected to humiliation, yet remained steadfast in her trust in God. Stories surrounding her martyrdom speak of God’s protection and her courage in the face of suffering.

Saint Agnes was ultimately put to death and buried in a catacomb outside Rome, which later took her name. Her witness made such an impact that a basilica was later built in her honour during the time of Constantine.

Despite her youth, Saint Agnes remains one of the Church’s most powerful examples of faith, purity and courage under persecution.

Saint Agnes, pray for us.