How pro-life action and prayer helped to thwart assisted suicide in Scotland

The shocking defeat of Scotland's Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill on March 17, 2026, is a prime example of how unfailing and coordinated public awareness campaigns and lobbying can emerge victorious, even in "one of the world's most socially and politically progressive legislatures."

Key Takeaways:

• After two years of debate and scrutiny, MSP Liam McArthur's bill to legalize assisted suicide in Scotland was defeated, with several MSPs changing sides after its first vote easily passed in May 2025.

• More than two-thirds of Scots polled shared concerns that people with disabilities could be pressured into assisted suicide and that availability of proper care could be impacted if the bill passed.

• Scotland's bishops credited prayer and faith as contributors to the bill's defeat, and others noted the cooperation and unity of diverse pro-life groups in fighting the pro-death bill.

The Details:

In a decisive 69-57 vote following two years of exhaustive scrutiny, Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) dismissed Liberal Democrat MSP Liam McArthur's proposal, which would have legalized assisted suicide for terminally ill adults, signifying the culmination of a years-long and controversial debate that seemed to rule the roost at Holyrood. 

Faith leaders and pro-life advocates lauded the bill's defeat as protecting “the most vulnerable in our society,” showcasing the potency of well-coordinated and evidence-based pro-life advocacy against the encroachment of anti-life ideologies. 

The debate among MSPs has now moved to how to best improve palliative care for vulnerable individuals.

Significant concerns

The bill had seamlessly sailed through the early stages of parliamentary approval, passing its first vote 70-56 in May 2025, backed by pledges of strict safeguards and emotional personal testimonies meant to sway hearts in favor of assisted dying. 

But a significant number of MSPs voiced serious worries about the bill, such as risks of pressure, diagnostic errors, and the collapse of life-affirming palliative care. Polling from Not Dead Yet UK showed that 69% of adults in Scotland shared similar concerns.

Scottish Conservative MSP Russell Findlay changed his stance from initially backing the bill to firmly resisting it. Findlay expressed worries that terminally ill individuals could face manipulation from “unscrupulous relatives, or 'trusted' medical or legal professionals” to terminate their lives too soon. The lawmaker further noted that, even without direct coercion, many older people might regard themselves as a “burden” to their families.

Similarly, in remarks previously cited by the BBC, disabled Scottish MSP Pam Duncan-Glancy said:

“The extent of internalised coercion - the risk that we would choose to die, and that the state will help - is real with this bill. It is about the systemic coercion that makes us consider, for just a moment, that we would be better off dead.” 

Findlay and Duncan-Glancy were not wrong in expressing their concerns about the bill.

In fact, the bill received “the most intense scrutiny assisted suicide has ever received in Scotland,” no doubt owing to a diverse campaign that inundated the Scottish Parliament with submissions uncovering loopholes in the bill, such as the lack of compulsory life-giving palliative care options and compromised doctor conscience clauses.

Evidently, grassroots pressure seemed to overwhelm the assisted dying bill despite media sympathy and celebrity endorsements — like that of "Call the Midwife" actress Miriam Margolyes, who even stated, "If a stroke meant I couldn’t speak, or I was doubly incontinent, or I lost my mind completely, I would ask to be put down. That’s because I want to be who I am. I don’t want to be less than I can be."

Bishops credit prayer

Scotland's Catholic bishops alluded to the crucial role of prayer by numerous pro-life advocates as a catalyst that altered lawmakers’ decisions to vote eventually in favor of life. 

Reacting to the results of the vote, Scotland’s bishops proclaimed to EWTN News: “Prayer is what moved hearts on this important issue. We are over the moon. Glory be to God that life has triumphed tonight!”

Bishop John Keenan, president of the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland, declared how the recent vote would “protect some of Scotland’s most vulnerable individuals from the risk of being pressured into a premature death,” reminding the public that true human dignity should be protected instead of favoring state-sanctioned killing deceptively repurposed as compassion.

Pro-life action

Pro-lifers took action, with inter-group cooperation in organizing petitions, briefings, exposing the bill's euphemistic sophistries, gathering data on international abuses of assisted dying regimes, and organizing prayer rallies. Cautionary tales from palliative care specialists revealed how assisted suicide directs funds away from hospices also played a role in shifting public opinion away from a vote in favor. 

Extensive evidence was gathered regarding the assisted dying regimes in Oregon and Canada, which showed how existing safeguards in these two places crumbled over the test of time, giving rise to broadened eligibility and thousands of preventable deaths.

Scotland's 69-57 margin victory over the anti-life regime of assisted dying isn't mere arithmetic—it's a clarion call: life wins when defended without apology, and what a victory it was that the vote has reportedly settled “the issue in Scotland for a generation.”

The Bottom Line:

While Holyrood chose life over death, pro-lifers must not fail to increase their advocacy and educational efforts to teach about assisted suicide's harms. Above all, pro-lifers should root their efforts in prayer, for the battles against life are first and foremost, spiritual in nature.