(LifeSiteNews) – The U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL) issued a public statement Tuesday criticizing the UK Parliament’s decision to advance the legislation of assisted suicide.
“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 bureau posted on X. “The western world should stand for life, vitality and hope over surrender and death.”
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.
— Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, & Labor (DRL) (@StateDRL) June 26, 2025
The statement comes just days after the House of Commons passed the “Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life)” Bill by a vote of 314 to 291. If passed by the House of Lords, the measure would permit adults in England and Wales deemed “terminally ill” to obtain lethal drugs through physicians. Pro-life advocates and medical groups have warned that the law will endanger the vulnerable and undermine the doctor-patient relationship.
READ: UK Parliament votes for assisted suicide
The bureau’s post reflects the growing willingness of the Trump administration to confront foreign governments on human rights issues related to life. In March, GB News reported that the State Department had sent a delegation from the DRL Bureau to London “to investigate concerns over freedom of speech restrictions, particularly regarding pro-life activists who have been arrested for silent protests outside abortion clinics.”
Vice President JD Vance also made international headlines in February for condemning European speech restrictions, calling out the UK’s treatment of peaceful pro-lifers.
The administration has also raised concerns in recent months over the jailing of Lucy Connolly, a British mother sentenced to 31 months for an angry social media post following a terrorist attack.
The UK’s vote on assisted suicide is part of a broader push across Western nations to legalize or expand state-sanctioned death, often under the banner of “compassion” or “autonomy.” In recent weeks, France, New York, and Illinois have each advanced similar measures, with legislators in some cases embedding assisted suicide language into unrelated bills or pairing it with palliative care proposals to soften opposition.
The assisted suicide bill will now be considered by the House of Lords. British pro-life leaders say the legislation is dangerously vague and opens the door to coercion and abuse. John Deighan of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children warned that “any move to legalize assisted suicide opens the door to coercion, abuse, and the wholesale devaluation of life itself,” and urged lawmakers to reject the measure.
