The Trump administration has rebuked British MPs for backing “state-subsidised suicide” by voting in favour of a Bill to allow doctors to help patients to kill themselves.
The US State Department’s Bureau for Democracy, Human Rights and Labour said the vote for the Terminally-Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill in the House of Commons last week opened up a new point of departure in the policies of the two countries.
<a href="https://x.com/StateDRL"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">In a post on X,</mark></a> the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, the Department said: “As the UK Parliament considers support for state-subsidized suicide, euphemistically called a bill for ‘Terminally Ill Adults,’ the United States reaffirms the sanctity of life.
“The western world should stand for life, vitality and hope over surrender and death.”
Although the statement articulates the position of the administration of President Donald Trump on the subject of assisted suicide, in the United States, however, the legality of assisted suicide is decided by each individual state.
In the last 30 years has been legalised in 12, including California. At present, assisted suicide legislation is passing through the New York state legislature. Euthanasia, the direct killing of a patient, remains prohibited by federal law.
<a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/news/2025/06/26/white-house-britain-assisted-dying/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">According to <em>The Daily Telegraph</em>, </mark></a>Downing Street was blindsided by the intervention because Marco Rubio, the US Secretary of State (pictured), did not raise the issue with Foreign Secretary David Lammy when the pair met last week.
The statement by the department was issued almost exactly a week after MPs voted by 314 to 291 votes – a majority of 23 – to approve Labour MP Kim Leadbeater’s private member’s Bill at Third Reading. The Bill will be put to a vote in the House of Lords probably in September.
It is highly unusual for the US State Department to criticise the domestic policies of an allied country. This is the second intervention, however, in just over two months.
In May <a href="https://thecatholicherald.com/us-government-disappointed-by-conviction-of-uk-woman-for-abortion-buffer-zone-breach/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">the State Department expressed disappointment </mark></a>over the conviction at Poole Magistrates’ Court of Livia Tossici-Bolt for violating a buffer zone at a Bournemouth abortion clinic with a sign which read: “Here to talk, if you want”.
The Department said on X: “Freedom of expression must be protected for all”.
An earlier prosecution for another sso-called “thought crime”, involving Catholic war veteran Adam Smith-Connor’s case, had prompted U.S. Vice President JD Vance to warn the Munich Security Conference in February that Europe was losing its basic freedoms. Mr Smith-Connor will appeal his conviction in a July hearing.
In May, President Trump sent a five-person team of officials to the UK to meet British pro-life activists about their concerns of being forcibly silenced.
The State Department has since then also expressed grave concerns over the jailing of Lucy Connolly, the wife of a Conservative councillor, for inciting racial hatred for 31 months by a tweet she posted – and quickly deleted – following the massacre of girls at a dancing class in Southport last summer.
The Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, a strong supporter of assisted suicide, has meanwhile <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/06/25/make-assisted-dying-work-starmer-orders-streeting/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">moved quickly to contradict claims by Health Secretary Wes Streeting, </mark></a>who voted against the Leadbeater Bill, that there are insufficient funds to implement assisted suicide in England and Wales.
Mr Streeting said: “The truth is that creating those conditions will take time and money.
“Even with the savings that might come from assisted dying if people take up the service – and it feels uncomfortable talking about savings in this context to be honest – setting up this service will also take time and money that is in short supply.
“There isn’t a budget for this. Politics is about prioritising. It is a daily series of choices and trade-offs. I fear we’ve made the wrong one.”
Sir Keir said however that he was “confident” that the Government prepared adequately for the introduction of an assisted suicide infrastructure by 2029.
He said: “It is my responsibility to make sure the Bill is workable, and that means workable in all its aspects. I’m confident we’ve done that preparation.”
Reform UK, the party most likely to emerge as the main opposition to Labour at the next General Election, according to the polls, <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14835251/Reform-repeal-assisted-dying-legislation-general-election.html"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">is considering making the repeal of any assisted suicide law</mark></a> among its manifesto pledges.
According to the <em>Mail on Sunday</em>, Nigel Farage’s party also wishes the repeal a clause in the Crime and Policing Bill which permits abortion up to and during birth.
<em>(Photo by Omar Havana/Getty Images</em>)
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