A bill facilitating assisted suicide through the NHS in Scotland has passed its first stage in the legislative process toward becoming law across the land.
MSPs (Members of the Scottish Parliament) voted in Holyrood by 70 to 56 to endorse the general principles of the bill in a wider margin than had been anticipated, reports The Times.
Campaigners in favour of the legislation put forward by Liam McArthur, the Liberal Democrat MSP, hailed the result as a “historic step towards greater choice and protection” for the dying, following what The Times describes as “one of the most seismic votes in the 26-year history of the devolved parliament”.
