An Open Letter to the Cabinet Secretary regarding the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill

Dear Cabinet Secretary,

The Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill

We are writing to you with a collective voice in firm opposition to the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill (the Bill). As Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice with responsibility for upholding our human rights, we want to highlight to you the harms posed to disabled people by the Bill.

As you will be aware, disabled people are more likely to experience systemic barriers, including inadequate access to health and social care, accessible housing, financial security, and other support. In 2024, the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities published a report examining progress following its 2016 findings of “grave and systemic violations of disabled people’s rights in the UK”. The Committee’s 2024 report concluded there has been no significant progress to improve disabled people’s lives in the UK since 2016. In this context, assisted dying could be perceived – by individuals or by society – as a solution to unmet support needs rather than a terminal illness. Both explicit pressure from others and implicit, internalised pressure, where disabled people may feel like a burden on family, carers or public services, could influence decision-making in ways that undermine genuine choice and control. Ultimately, the Bill risks creating a society where people choose to end their lives because they cannot get support to live, such as social care support, healthcare, housing, and benefits. It risks making it easier for people to access help to die than to live.

The Bill defines someone as terminally ill if they ‘have an advanced and progressive disease, illness or condition from which they are unable to recover and that can reasonably be expected to cause their premature death’. As a result, the Bill could apply to people with long-term or life-limiting conditions regardless of whether death is imminent, a definition that covers many disabled people.

The Bill does not include sufficient safeguards to detect or indeed protect against subtle coercion or undue influence, particularly for people who rely on family, friends or carers for care and support. Safeguards are focused primarily on clinical assessments and will not capture social, economic or relational pressures affecting disabled people. Despite being a group of people who have contact with the state more often than many, disabled people, especially disabled women, are more likely to experience domestic violence and abuse. Even in a highly regulated environment, disabled people’s experience of coercion and abuse goes undetected. It is impossible to accept therefore that there could ever be certainty that someone has not been pressured into ending their life prematurely. Furthermore, there is a societal perception, reinforced through assumptions, systems, and cultural narratives, that disabled people’s lives – often one of dependence and pain – are less valuable or “not worth living”. The Bill could serve to legitimise this view by assisting disabled people to help end their lives.

As set out above, many disabled people face difficulty accessing basic public services that would support them to live a full and independent life. For many, assisted dying is about the principle of choice. However, for many, there are no real alternatives – high-quality social care, high quality palliative care, pain management, mental health support and practical assistance are not equally available. Many disabled people do not have choice or autonomy at the end of their life nor throughout it. We are aware that disabled people are not unified for or against it, however as long as safeguarding is a concern, we cannot be supportive of this bill as it stands.

In summary, we urge you to recognise that, in the context of systemic inequality and inadequate support, the Bill risks undermining disabled people’s rights, safety, and equality. Whilst disabled people cannot reliably access the services and support required to live with dignity and autonomy, introducing assisted suicide would create unacceptable risks of pressure, inequity, and harm.

Yours sincerely,

Inclusion Scotland

Glasgow Centre for Inclusive Living (GCIL)

Dumfries and Galloway Voice (DG Voice)

Self Directed Support Scotland (SDSS)

Glasgow Disability Alliance (GDA)