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| 23-September-2026 |
So what arguments have proved most persuasive in the past decade?
Assisted dying has been legalised, either by statute or courts, in 28 places in the past decade. This includes ten countries (Canada, Italy, Germany, New Zealand, Austria, Spain, Colombia, Ecuador, Uruguay, and France), Jersey, plus ten regional jurisdictions within USA and seven within Australia.
In the previous twenty years, it was legalised in ten places. This included three places in the 1990s (briefly in Australia’s Northern Territory, partially in Colombia, and in Oregon, USA), five in the 2000s (Netherlands, Belgium, Washington State, Luxembourg, and Montana), and two in the early 2010s (Vermont and Quebec).
Fifty years earlier, it was legalised in Switzerland in 1942.
With that in mind, here are some lessons from legalisation during the past decade, ranging from Courts that focus more on individual rights to parliaments that focus on balancing rights with safeguards.
National Jurisdictions, 2016-2026
Canada 2016: The Supreme Court in 2015 struck down a blanket ban as it violated the rights to life, liberty and security. It found careful regulation could address the problems of vulnerability. Parliament passed the law in 2016.
Italy 2019: The Constitutional Court created a narrow exemption for assisted suicide. One argument was that Italian law already allowed dying people to refuse life-sustaining treatment and thus suffer a slower death.
Germany 2020: The Federal Constitutional Court struck down a ban on assisted suicide. It ruled this right came under the right to personality and human dignity, and that it was not confined to people with terminal illnesses.
New Zealand 2019-21: Parliament passed the End of Life Choice Act in 2019, a referendum endorsed it by 65% in 2020, and it was enacted in 2021. The people’s vote was on a specific narrow law, not on the principle of assisted dying.
Austria 2020-21: The Constitutional Court struck down a blanket ban in 2020 as depriving a person from carrying out a freely made decision. Parliament passed the law in 2021, not creating euthanasia but regulating assisted suicide.
Spain 2021: Parliament passed a law permitting both assisted suicide and euthanasia in specified circumstances. Spain’s statutory preamble says life and physical integrity must be reconciled with dignity, freedom and personal autonomy.
Colombia 2022: Colombia already allowed euthanasia, and this Constitutional Court judgment decriminalised doctors who assisted competent people to commit suicide. It ruled that the criminal sanction on doctors was disproportionate.
Ecuador 2024: As in Colombia, the Constitutional Court removed criminal liability for a doctor carrying out euthanasia under specified conditions following a competent patient’s request. This was based on dignity, autonomy, and proportionality.
Uruguay 2025: Parliament passed a law to allow dying with dignity, connecting assisted dying with autonomous choice in the face of terminal or irreversible conditions, unbearable suffering and serious deterioration in quality of life.
France 2026: Parliament passed two laws, one that explicitly strengthened palliative care, and another that allowed people to self-administer assisted dying for incurable, life-threatening conditions. This was preceded by a citizens’ convention and upheld by the Constitutional Council.
Jersey 2026: The States Assembly passed a law following a Citizens’ Jury. It confined assisted dying to people with terminal illness, and committed to end-of-life and palliative care. It is due to commence in late 2027.
USA Regions, 2016-2026
Assisted dying was first legalised in Oregon in 1997. It has become the blueprint for assisted dying laws in USA. It has never been expanded beyond terminal illness. Palliative care has continued alongside access to assisted dying.
Four more US States allowed assisted dying before 2016. These were Washington in 2008, Montana in 2009, Vermont in 2013, and California in 2015. In the past ten years, another nine States and District of Columbia have joined the list.
In the second half of the 2010s, five States and DC legalised assisted dying. California in 2016 largely followed the Oregon model, Colorado in 2016 built in safeguards that reassured voters, the District of Colombia Act in 2017 explicitly excluded euthanasia, Hawai’i in 2018 and New Jersey in 2019 required multiple healthcare providers, and Maine in 2019 required monitoring of how the law operated.
So far in the 2020s, four more US States have legalised assisted dying. New Mexico in 2021 emphasised dignity, free will, suffering and peace of mind, Delaware in 2025 focused on a regulated end-of-life option, Illinois in 2025 said assisted dying complements, rather than displaces palliative care, and New York in 2026 said the law allowed people to shorten not their lives, but their deaths.
Australian Regions, 2017-2024
Legalisation in Australia all happened through regional parliaments, starting with Victoria in 2017 and ending with the Australian Capital Territory in 2024. This meant later laws could follow earlier Australian laws rather than rely on international examples.
Victoria in 2017 followed a major parliamentary inquiry and an expert panel, which reassured wavering legislators. It focused on autonomy, relief of suffering, and safeguards.
Western Australia in 2019 began with an inquiry themed My Life, My Choice. It also explicitly recommended improving palliative care. In 2021, Tasmania, South Australia, and Queensland broadly followed the Victorian model.
New South Wales passed a law in 2022, allowing choice for competent people who are dying, with safeguards for vulnerable people, and backed by the evidence of assisted dying already operating elsewhere in Australia.
The Australian Capital Territory passed a law in 2024. It was based on dignity, human rights, community consultation, and people make choices consistent with their values.
Conclusion
There have been twice as many assisted dying legalisations in the past ten years as in the previous twenty. So what arguments have proved most persuasive in the past decade?
Hopefully parliamentarians will take these lessons on board as campaigns continue to legalise assisted dying in other jurisdictions.
Atheist Ireland supports the right to live well while dying. People who want to live as long as they can should get the best medical resources. And people who want to die peacefully at a time of their choosing should be able to do so.
When laws recognise this balance, fewer people will suffer needlessly, more people will have a greater quality of life while dying, and everybody will have their personal conscience respected with safeguards to protect the rights of others.
Assisted dying has been legalised, either by statute or courts, in 28 places in the past decade. This includes ten countries (Canada, Italy, Germany, New Zealand, Austria, Spain, Colombia, Ecuador, Uruguay, and France), Jersey, plus ten regional jurisdictions within USA and seven within Australia.
In the previous twenty years, it was legalised in ten places. This included three places in the 1990s (briefly in Australia’s Northern Territory, partially in Colombia, and in Oregon, USA), five in the 2000s (Netherlands, Belgium, Washington State, Luxembourg, and Montana), and two in the early 2010s (Vermont and Quebec).
Fifty years earlier, it was legalised in Switzerland in 1942.
Four persuasive arguments
Courts tend to focus more directly on whether the state should be allowed to interfere with the rights of dying people, while parliaments focus more on the balance between choice, compassion, criteria, safeguards, and palliative care.
Four common persuasive arguments in recent laws have been:
Courts tend to focus more directly on whether the state should be allowed to interfere with the rights of dying people, while parliaments focus more on the balance between choice, compassion, criteria, safeguards, and palliative care.
Four common persuasive arguments in recent laws have been:
- The case for personal autonomy is more persuasive when the person is already dying, though the German Court in 2020 did not confine the right to terminal illness. And people empathise more with specific cases of personal suffering than with the principle alone.
- There is a move towards addressing vulnerability by regulating safeguards, rather than by simply denying people the right to choose. The Canadian law in 2016 followed this distinction which was made by the Supreme Court’s Carter judgment.
- There is a move against framing assisted dying and palliative care as mutually exclusive alternatives. France in 2026 explicitly strengthened palliative care while also allowing assisted dying for those with serious, incurable, life-threatening conditions.
- As more laws are passed, there is more experience elsewhere to examine and learn from. This does not resolve every dispute, but it shifts the debate from unquantifiable fears to seeing how regulations work in practice.
With that in mind, here are some lessons from legalisation during the past decade, ranging from Courts that focus more on individual rights to parliaments that focus on balancing rights with safeguards.
National Jurisdictions, 2016-2026
Canada 2016: The Supreme Court in 2015 struck down a blanket ban as it violated the rights to life, liberty and security. It found careful regulation could address the problems of vulnerability. Parliament passed the law in 2016.
Italy 2019: The Constitutional Court created a narrow exemption for assisted suicide. One argument was that Italian law already allowed dying people to refuse life-sustaining treatment and thus suffer a slower death.
Germany 2020: The Federal Constitutional Court struck down a ban on assisted suicide. It ruled this right came under the right to personality and human dignity, and that it was not confined to people with terminal illnesses.
New Zealand 2019-21: Parliament passed the End of Life Choice Act in 2019, a referendum endorsed it by 65% in 2020, and it was enacted in 2021. The people’s vote was on a specific narrow law, not on the principle of assisted dying.
Austria 2020-21: The Constitutional Court struck down a blanket ban in 2020 as depriving a person from carrying out a freely made decision. Parliament passed the law in 2021, not creating euthanasia but regulating assisted suicide.
Spain 2021: Parliament passed a law permitting both assisted suicide and euthanasia in specified circumstances. Spain’s statutory preamble says life and physical integrity must be reconciled with dignity, freedom and personal autonomy.
Colombia 2022: Colombia already allowed euthanasia, and this Constitutional Court judgment decriminalised doctors who assisted competent people to commit suicide. It ruled that the criminal sanction on doctors was disproportionate.
Ecuador 2024: As in Colombia, the Constitutional Court removed criminal liability for a doctor carrying out euthanasia under specified conditions following a competent patient’s request. This was based on dignity, autonomy, and proportionality.
Uruguay 2025: Parliament passed a law to allow dying with dignity, connecting assisted dying with autonomous choice in the face of terminal or irreversible conditions, unbearable suffering and serious deterioration in quality of life.
France 2026: Parliament passed two laws, one that explicitly strengthened palliative care, and another that allowed people to self-administer assisted dying for incurable, life-threatening conditions. This was preceded by a citizens’ convention and upheld by the Constitutional Council.
Jersey 2026: The States Assembly passed a law following a Citizens’ Jury. It confined assisted dying to people with terminal illness, and committed to end-of-life and palliative care. It is due to commence in late 2027.
USA Regions, 2016-2026
Assisted dying was first legalised in Oregon in 1997. It has become the blueprint for assisted dying laws in USA. It has never been expanded beyond terminal illness. Palliative care has continued alongside access to assisted dying.
Four more US States allowed assisted dying before 2016. These were Washington in 2008, Montana in 2009, Vermont in 2013, and California in 2015. In the past ten years, another nine States and District of Columbia have joined the list.
In the second half of the 2010s, five States and DC legalised assisted dying. California in 2016 largely followed the Oregon model, Colorado in 2016 built in safeguards that reassured voters, the District of Colombia Act in 2017 explicitly excluded euthanasia, Hawai’i in 2018 and New Jersey in 2019 required multiple healthcare providers, and Maine in 2019 required monitoring of how the law operated.
So far in the 2020s, four more US States have legalised assisted dying. New Mexico in 2021 emphasised dignity, free will, suffering and peace of mind, Delaware in 2025 focused on a regulated end-of-life option, Illinois in 2025 said assisted dying complements, rather than displaces palliative care, and New York in 2026 said the law allowed people to shorten not their lives, but their deaths.
Australian Regions, 2017-2024
Legalisation in Australia all happened through regional parliaments, starting with Victoria in 2017 and ending with the Australian Capital Territory in 2024. This meant later laws could follow earlier Australian laws rather than rely on international examples.
Victoria in 2017 followed a major parliamentary inquiry and an expert panel, which reassured wavering legislators. It focused on autonomy, relief of suffering, and safeguards.
Western Australia in 2019 began with an inquiry themed My Life, My Choice. It also explicitly recommended improving palliative care. In 2021, Tasmania, South Australia, and Queensland broadly followed the Victorian model.
New South Wales passed a law in 2022, allowing choice for competent people who are dying, with safeguards for vulnerable people, and backed by the evidence of assisted dying already operating elsewhere in Australia.
The Australian Capital Territory passed a law in 2024. It was based on dignity, human rights, community consultation, and people make choices consistent with their values.
Conclusion
There have been twice as many assisted dying legalisations in the past ten years as in the previous twenty. So what arguments have proved most persuasive in the past decade?
- The case for personal autonomy is strongest when the person is already dying.
- There is a move towards addressing vulnerability by regulating safeguards.
- There is a move against framing assisted dying and palliative care as mutually exclusive.
- As more laws are passed, there is more experience elsewhere to examine and learn from.
Hopefully parliamentarians will take these lessons on board as campaigns continue to legalise assisted dying in other jurisdictions.
Atheist Ireland supports the right to live well while dying. People who want to live as long as they can should get the best medical resources. And people who want to die peacefully at a time of their choosing should be able to do so.
When laws recognise this balance, fewer people will suffer needlessly, more people will have a greater quality of life while dying, and everybody will have their personal conscience respected with safeguards to protect the rights of others.
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