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”.

EMERGENCY
APPEAL
to SAVE
lives

Help stop three major anti-life threats.

Help stop three major anti-life threats.

Dear reader,

Thanks to the hard work and dedication of people like you across the UK, the McArthur assisted suicide Bill in Scotland was defeated in March by 69 votes to 57.

Then, in April, the Leadbeater assisted suicide Bill fell in the House of Lords.

Many commentators thought both Bills would become law.

If that had happened, governments in England, Scotland and Wales would now be preparing to roll out assisted suicide services.

Over the coming decades, this would have led to the deaths of many thousands of vulnerable people.

But that is not what happened.

Because supporters like you acted, those Bills were stopped.

Because of you, many vulnerable lives have been saved.

These were two very significant victories. But sadly, they are not the last battles we face this year.

The new Parliamentary session began on Wednesday. We now face three major threats.

  1. Attempts to bring back the Leadbeater assisted suicide Bill and bypass the House of Lords

    The assisted suicide lobby, led by Dignity in Dying, a multi-million-pound pressure group, has made it clear that it is going to attempt to bring back the Leadbeater assisted suicide Bill in the next parliamentary session.

    It then plans to use the Parliament Acts to bypass the House of Lords and force the Bill into law.

  2. Labour Government plans for a major expansion of abortion provision, including financial incentives for ‘lunch-hour’ abortions

    Under these plans, the Government would financially incentivise major abortion providers, BPAS and MSI Reproductive Choices, to provide ‘lunch-hour’ or ‘same-day’ abortions.

    ‘Lunch-hour’ abortion services are walk-in abortion services designed to fit into a woman’s lunch hour.

    Women facing an unplanned pregnancy need time, care and support, not a system that gives abortion clinics a financial incentive to rush them through consultations, scans and abortions on the same day.

    If these plans go ahead, many more lives are likely to be ended by abortion here in the UK.

  3. Extreme abortion up to birth proposals in Scotland

    In Scotland, plans are moving forward to introduce an extreme abortion up to birth law. This would go far beyond the abortion law change recently backed by the Lords for England and Wales.

    A review of abortion law in Scotland, commissioned by Humza Yousaf when he was Scottish First Minister, recommended that the Scottish Government scrap the current 24-week time limit – and abortion be available on social grounds, including for sex-selective purposes, right up to birth.

    The final plans are expected to be brought forward as a Government Bill in the new Scottish Parliament, which begins this Thursday.

If these three major threats succeed, thousands of vulnerable lives will be lost.

We cannot allow this to happen.

We can only defeat these three major threats with your help.

We ran our biggest campaigns ever to help defeat the assisted suicide Bills at Westminster and in Scotland.

That work has made a serious dent in our limited resources.

To cover this gap and ensure we can effectively defeat these three major threats in the coming months, we are aiming to raise at least £199,250 by midnight this Sunday (17 May 2026).

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

Every donation, large or small, will make a crucial difference in saving the lives of the unborn and many others. Plus, if you are a UK taxpayer, £1 becomes £1.25 with Gift Aid at no extra cost to you.

By stopping these threats, YOU can save lives during this new Parliamentary session.

Will you donate now to help protect vulnerable lives from these three major threats?

EMERGENCY
APPEAL
to SAVE
lives

Help stop three major anti-life threats.

Help stop three major anti-life threats.