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Support for assisted suicide drops in England and Wales, according to poll from assisted suicide campaigners

New polling in England and Wales, commissioned and funded by assisted suicide lobby group, Dignity in Dying, shows there has been a drop in support for assisted suicide.

Dignity in Dying, formerly the Voluntary Euthanasia Society, commissioned two YouGov polls into assisted suicide in July this year, one in England and Wales and a second for Scotland. 

While their own 2019 polling indicated that 84% of the public in England and Wales were supportive of assisted suicide being made legal, Dignity in Dying’s most recent polling shows a drop in support to 78%. Strong support for a change in the law was only 39%.

The recent polling is over 10% higher than contemporaneous tracking also conducted by YouGov that reveals that support for assisted suicide is actually 67%. Consistent tracking since 2019 shows an average of 68% support for assisted suicide across Britain and that support for assisted suicide never surpasses 71%.

Dignity in Dying has been criticised for its approach to polling on assisted suicide, with two experts from the respected Institute for Social and Economic Research at Essex University saying that previous polling they commissioned on the issue was ‘skewed and ambiguous’.

“Assisted suicide” vs “assisted dying”

Polling from overseas shows that when the term ‘assisted suicide’ is used in polls, the majority in favour of introducing assisted suicide falls, sometimes by up to 19%.

Whether respondents to a poll are exposed to counterarguments to the introduction of assisted suicide also appears to have an impact on the percentages of respondents who state they support introducing assisted suicide. In one poll, undertaken by Savanta ComRes, of people in England, Scotland and Wales, support for assisted suicide dropped from 73% to 43% when respondents were presented with counterarguments. A poll that was run only in Scotland showed similar results.

Assisted suicide misinformation

Earlier this month, the lobby group was caught spreading misinformation on TV when Jacky Davis, who sits on the board of Dignity in Dying, claimed that over 600 people a year from the UK end their lives at the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland.

However, speaking before the Health and Social Care Committee, which held a series of oral evidence sessions on assisted suicide earlier this year, a representative of Dignitas, Silvan Luley, said that over the past 20 years, 540 people from the UK had ended their lives in the Dignitas clinic.

This means an average of 27 people from the UK end their lives by assisted suicide per year in the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland. Davis’ claim that 600 people from the UK end their lives by assisted suicide in Dignitas each year is a 2,100% exaggeration.

Right To Life UK spokesperson, Catherine Robinson, said “As the reality of assisted suicide and euthanasia legislation becomes more widely known, it is no surprise the accuracy of these sorts of polls is questionable. Academics have been highly critical of the approach taken by Dignity in Dying with the polling they have funded on assisted suicide. We know that when polling asks about “assisted suicide” as opposed to “assisted dying” the results can be very different. Furthermore, when respondents are offered counterarguments to making assisted suicide legal, the results can also change dramatically”.

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Dear reader,

Despite the Leadbeater assisted-suicide Bill passing its Third Reading on 20 June, it scraped through by just 23 votes (314-291) after enjoying a 55-vote majority at Second Reading. Had 12 more MPs switched sides, the Bill would be dead. It now limps into the Lords with a wafer-thin majority, where peers can amend, delay or reject it outright.

THE CHALLENGE

Dignity in Dying, My Death My Decision and Humanists UK have poured millions into pushing assisted suicide and will fight hard to stop the Lords overturning the Bill.

At the same time, the Antoniazzi abortion-up-to-birth amendment, passed by MPs in June, also heads to the Lords. If it becomes law, it would no longer be illegal for women to perform their own abortions for any reason – including sex-selective purposes – and at any point up to and during birth.

We will be up against the UK’s largest abortion providers, BPAS and MSI Reproductive Choices (formerly Marie Stopes), who are expected to push for even more extreme changes to our abortion laws in the Lords.

WE NEED YOUR HELP

Thousands of vulnerable lives are now at stake. Battling these two threats is the biggest and most expensive effort in our history, and has drained our limited resources. To fight effectively on both fronts, we aim to raise £200,000 by midnight this Sunday (13 July 2025).

Every donation, large or small, will help protect lives, and UK taxpayers can add 25p to every £1 through Gift Aid at no extra cost.

Will you make a donation now to help protect vulnerable lives from these major threats?

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Help fight major assisted suicide and abortion up to birth threats.