J.K. Rowling: 'I used to believe in assisted dying. I no longer do.'

"Harry Potter" book series author J.K. Rowling posted on X last week that she has changed her mind on a number of issues over the years, including "assisted dying," and now stands against physician-assisted death. The UK House of Lords is currently debating a pro-assisted suicide bill.

Key Takeaways:

• J.K. Rowling said in a post on X last week that she "no longer" believes in assisted suicide.

• She credits her husband, Dr. Neil Murray, with "opening her eyes to the coercion of... vulnerable people."

• Pro-assisted suicide laws and arguments are steeped in coercive propaganda, asserting that killing people on purpose is the compassionate and dignified thing to do.

The Details:

In a post on X, Rowling explained, "I used to believe in assisted dying. I no longer do, largely because I'm married to a doctor [Neil Murray] who opened my eyes to the possibilities of coercion of sick or vulnerable people."

Rowling, who also noted in the post that she struggles with a "God-shaped vacuum inside me," first spoke out against assisted suicide in 2024. Her full tweet is pictured below:

Seeming to follow her husband's lead, Rowling began reposting anti-assisted suicide posts from other people, including sharing a post from MP Rosie Duffield regarding the coercive nature of assisted suicide and the lack of safeguards against coercion:

Reality Check:

Coercion is not just a 'possibility' with assisted suicide. The arguments in favor of it are embedded with coercive wording.

Assisted suicide groups glorify it as the 'dignified' way to die. Assisted suicide supporters and media outlets emphasize that people who 'opt for' assisted suicide are acting out of a desire to be free from suffering, but also out of selflessness because they don't want 'to be a burden on their loved ones.'

Kim Leadbeater, sponsor of the UK's Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, said during a podcast discussing her bill that she "would not want to be a burden." She said that "being concerned about being a burden is a legitimate reason" to end one's own life through 'assisted dying.'

These hallmarks of the pro-assisted suicide mindset are coercive to anyone who may be terminally ill, chronically ill, or may become ill in the future. These words settle into their minds, so that when illness enters their lives or the lives of those they love, the seed of so-called dignified death begins to sprout, and the number of people seeking assisted death rises.

Such laws may begin under the guise of compassion for those who are terminally ill, but as displayed so well in Canada, the law quickly and easily expands to those who are disabled, chronically ill, or have mental health concerns. This doesn't help people; it weeds out people who have 'less than ideal' health.

By The Numbers:

• Annual reports from 2016 found that 49% of Oregon patients seeking to die said they were doing so because they feared being a "burden" on family, friends, or caregivers.

• In the state of Washington, 52% cited being a "burden" as a reason, and just 35% cited a concern about pain.

• By 2021, Oregon's report found that 54% did not want to be a burden, and eight percent (8%) wanted to die due to financial concerns.

• A 2023 study showed that the percentage of persons seeking assisted death in Oregon because they felt like a burden had doubled from 2011 to 2021 (26% to 54%).

MPs Diane Abbott and Edward Leigh wrote in The Guardian that vulnerable individuals are “most likely to resign themselves to an assisted death against their will because they are unable to access the support they require."

They explained:

Imagine the pensioner whose children cannot afford houses of their own watching her limited savings, earmarked for those children, disappearing on social care and so feeling a 'duty to die.' Or consider the elderly widow who has been hospitalised and worries she is taking up a valuable bed in an NHS under significant strain and would be better off dead.

Some assisted suicide proponents may roll their eyes at this; however, MP Cat Eccles told journalist Kay Burley that it is wrong for family members to talk people out of assisted suicide, as if caregivers who support their loved ones in continuing to live are guilty of a horrid act.

According to Eccles, people are trying to persuade suicide-minded family members not to kill themselves — and this is a bad thing.

Save the government money

But beyond the personal burden one might feel on the path toward suicide, there is the push from the government to continually expand access in a cost-saving effort.

• 2020: Canada’s Parliamentary Budget Officer released a report that its Medical Assistance in Dying program created a “net cost reduction” of $86.9 million per year for the government. It went on to say that expansion of the categories of persons eligible for MAiD would create an additional net savings of $62 million per year. 

In an article for The Spectator, author Yuan Yi Zhu, wrote:

Health care, in particular for those suffering from chronic conditions, is expensive; but assisted suicide only costs the taxpayer $2,327 per ‘case.’ And, of course, those who have to rely wholly on government-provided Medicare pose a far greater burden on the exchequer than those who have savings or private insurance…. There is already talk of allowing ‘mature minors’ access to euthanasia too—just think of the lifetime savings.

• 2025: A May assessment carried out by the UK Department of Health and Social Care on the impact of proposed assisted suicide legislation found that legalizing assisted suicide could save the UK's National Health Service (NHS) up to £59.6 million ($79 million) annually.

Money is why certain MPs are pushing for the legalization of assisted suicide. (Think of all the abortions they could fund with that net savings.)

The Bottom Line:

Eugenics and ableism are at the root of assisted suicide, not compassion for the dying or sick. What it boils down to is the false idea that some lives aren't worthy of living.

Baron Andrew Roberts from the UK's House of Lords admitted it last week when he said the lives of people with terminal illnesses have "lost any possible meaning" — a discriminatory nudge for people to kill themselves, disguised as 'compassion.'