"A step backwards": Jersey has legalised Assisted Suicide

The passing of a law on the island of Jersey to allow Assisted Suicide has been described s " a step backwards" and a "continuation of a slide away from compassion". 

BBC reported that: the proposals will now seek Royal Assent in the UK  and that "once approved the first legal assisted deaths could happen as early as next summer."

Persons with terminal illnesses causing suffering and expected to die within six months, or 12 months for those with neurodegenerative conditions such as Parkinson's and motor neurone disease (MND), can seek to have their lives ended. 

It means Jersey is now the second part of the British Isles where assisted dying has been fully approved - the Isle of Man was the first, BBC said. 

Jersey politicians have chosen to legalise assisted dying by 32 votes to 16. The law goes further than other proposals across the UK, as eligible terminally ill residents can have their life ended by a willing health worker.@KatyaLFowler has the latest: pic.twitter.com/a2WzJTdnOc
— ITV Channel News (@ITVChannelTV) February 26, 2026

Sandra Parda of the Life Institute said that legalising assisted suicide was always a "step backwards" and was the "continuation of a slide away from compassion that had was so prevelant in many highly individualistic societies."

And local campaigners expressed 

Previously, Live Action reported that Assistant Health Minister Barbara Ward had singled out how crucial protections in the proposed assisted dying bill are being compromised by a clause permitting individuals to grant prior consent to an assisted death — even if they later lose the ability to reaffirm that decision.

According to the Bailiwick Express, the current shortage of trained medical professionals make it nearly impossible for Jersey’s healthcare system to properly assess requests for death. Without sufficient personnel to determine patients’ mental state, any safeguards within assisted dying legislation would amount to a pipe dream.