(LifeSiteNews) — The British Channel Island of Jersey has legalized assisted suicide.
A law that allows adults who are terminally ill to commit suicide with the assistance of a doctor has been granted Royal Assent after the bill was approved by the island’s self-governing legislature in February.
The autonomous island under the British Crown, located 14 miles off the Cotentin Peninsula of northwest France in the English Channel, will become the first of the British Isles and the first British territory to legalize assisted suicide.
Minister of Health and Social Services Tom Binet expressed his delight over the Royal Assent being granted: “Our focus now is on continuing our work to get the service set up and running.”
The so-called “Assisted Dying Law” will come into force once it is registered at the Jersey Royal Court. It is expected to come into effect next year.
In November 2021, Jersey’s States Assembly decided that “assisted dying” should be allowed “in principle.” In May 2024, it voted in favor of drawing up laws for assisted suicide after the government announced its plan to introduce the practice. In February this year, the law was passed in a 32-to-16 vote.
Binet said at the time that “Jersey would have one of the safest and most transparent assisted dying laws in the world.”
The law requires someone who wishes to commit suicide to be at least 18 years old. They must have been a resident in Jersey for at least one year and have a “voluntary, settled and informed wish” to end their life. They must also be terminally ill with a life expectancy of a maximum of six months or 12 months if they suffer from a neurodegenerative disease.
While these measures appear restrictive, examples of other countries that have legalized assisted suicide or euthanasia, like Belgium, the Netherlands, or Canada, have shown that suchrestrictions can quickly be taken away, leading to children and those with mental illnesses opting for “assisted dying.”
READ: Euthanasia for mental illness already taking place in Canada, psychiatrist testifies
The pro-life campaign group Care Not Killing expressed its “deep disappointment“ after the Royal Assent was granted to the Assisted Dying Law. The group argued the legislation violated the European Convention of Human Rights and “highlighted that the law fails to adequately test for coercion, duress or undue influence – particularly in the case of disabled people – by relying on an assessing doctor simply asking the individual if anyone has coerced them.”
Care Not Killing Representative Gordon Macdonald said:
This legislation will fundamentally alter health and palliative care on Jersey and put the lives of vulnerable people at risk, exactly as we have seen in those places that have introduced assisted suicide or euthanasia.
It fails on a number of fronts, including: lack of legal protections for doctors and nurses who do not want to be involved, protections for the elderly and disabled people at risk of being coerced, will see money taken out of palliative care and has been sold to the public as a way to end suffering.
Medical doctor and pro-life advocate Cajetan Niall wrote on X: “The last time doctors in Jersey were legally able to poison their patients, it was under Nazi occupation. A shameful day.”
While the Isle of Man became the first of the British Isles to pass a bill allowing assisted suicide in March 2025, it has not yet been granted Royal Assent, due to the lack of key safeguards.
As LifeSiteNews reported, in April, the attempt to pass assisted suicide in England and Wales failed because “The Terminally Ill Adults Bill” ran out of time before it could be voted on by the House of Lords before its deadline.