Urgent appeal to build on the momentum from the defeat of the assisted suicide Bill and make this victory last.
DONATE NOW
Select Page

Dutch group campaigns for assisted suicide without medical oversight

A pro-assisted suicide group is challenging the Dutch euthanasia law that allows doctors to assist in suicide but criminalises others who assist people end their own lives, claiming that it violates European human rights law.

Assisted suicide and euthanasia have been legal in the Netherlands since 2001 provided that it is performed or administered by a doctor. However, the group, Cooperative Last Will, believes the law should be changed to allow people to assist others in ending their own lives without the presence of a doctor.

On Monday they told judges that the current Dutch law violates their human rights and should be declared unlawful.

Jos van Wijk of Cooperative Last Will said: “We believe it should be possible to provide the means to be able to humanely end your own life”.

In the Netherlands assisted suicide must be overseen by a doctor

A lawyer for the group said that the case was an instance of strategic legislation designed to force the Netherlands to change its assisted suicide and euthanasia laws. They argued that the ban on assisted suicide that is not overseen by a doctor was a violation of the right to self-determination and respect for private life.

Cooperative Last Will is involved in a separate ongoing case in which one of its members is suspected of illegally assisting others in their suicide through the sale of a suicide powder they are calling Substance X to at least 33 people. The group has been promoting this substance since 2018.

Right To Life UK spokesperson Catherine Robinson said: “As the Netherlands has found out and as Canada is finding out, once assisted suicide and euthanasia are made legal, it is extremely difficult to prevent their expansion. If they are made available for the sake of autonomy, then it seems they should apply to any adult, regardless of other considerations. However, the current requirement that the process is overseen by a doctor is at least a minimal safeguard against a system that already adversely affects the elderly and vulnerable”.

Urgent appeal 
to save liveS

Help stop three major anti-life threats.

Help build on the momentum from the defeat of the assisted suicide Bill and make this victory last.

Dear reader,

Thanks to the hard work and dedication of people like you across the UK, after a two-year battle, MPs voted by 286 to 270 to reject the Edwards assisted suicide Bill.

This followed the defeat of the McArthur assisted suicide Bill in Scotland by 69 to 57 in March this year.

Many commentators thought both Bills would become law.

If that had happened, this would have led to the deaths of many thousands of vulnerable people over the coming decades.

Because supporters like you acted, those Bills were stopped.

Because of you, many vulnerable lives have been saved.

A prominent pollster described the campaign against these major attempts to introduce assisted suicide, which brought together people from all walks of life across the UK, as one of the “most successful 21st Century UK social issue campaigns”. You helped make that possible.

WHY WE MUST NOT STOP HERE

What we have achieved together is extraordinary. But we must not rest on our laurels.

Dignity in Dying, a multi-million-pound pressure group, has made clear that it will keep campaigning to legalise assisted suicide. 

We cannot wait until another Bill is brought forward. We need to keep pressing for better care and strengthen the case against legalisation now.

WHAT COMES NEXT

The next phase of our Support Not Suicide campaign will operate across Parliament, media, online and in grassroots communities in every constituency across the United Kingdom.

Our focus now is to build on that momentum from the defeat of these assisted suicide Bills and make these victories last.

We want to build a United Kingdom where assisted suicide is seen as unnecessary – and where legalising it is seen as unthinkable.

The first part of that work is a sustained push for universal access to high-quality palliative, hospice and social care. No one should feel driven towards assisted suicide because they cannot get the care and support they need. 

We have already asked supporters to contact their MPs about improving care. With your help, we will keep that pressure on in every constituency, brief MPs and Peers on gaps in care, and make the case for better provision in the media.

The second part is building on these wins to ensure more MPs and more of the wider public understand the dangers of legalising assisted suicide. We will put evidence of those risks before MPs and Peers. We will work with mainstream journalists to bring the voices of people directly affected, doctors and other experts into the national conversation, and produce clear videos and articles that supporters can share online and in their communities.

Our network of 250,000 supporters covers every constituency in the UK. Thanks to people like you sharing our content, our posts and videos have been viewed more than 100 million times online in the last year. 

We want to utilise that massive reach for this next phase of the campaign.

WE CAN ONLY DO THIS WITH YOUR HELP

The two-year fight to stop these Bills drew heavily on our limited resources.

To replenish those resources and fund the next phase of the Support Not Suicide campaign, we aim to raise at least £199,250 by midnight this Sunday (4 October 2026).

We are, therefore, appealing to you to please give as generously as you can today.

Every donation, large or small, will make a crucial difference in protecting vulnerable lives. Plus, if you are a UK taxpayer, £1 becomes £1.25 with Gift Aid at no extra cost to you.

Will you donate now to help make these victories last and protect vulnerable lives?

Urgent appeal 
to save liveS

Help stop three major anti-life threats.

Help build on the momentum from the defeat of the assisted suicide Bill and make this victory last.