British MPs have taken a historic step toward legalizing assisted dying in England and Wales by approving a bill that would grant some terminally ill individuals the right to end their lives.

The House of Commons passed the second reading of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill with a vote of 330 to 275, a majority of 55, allowing it to continue its progress through Parliament.

If enacted, the bill would permit terminally ill, mentally competent adults with less than six months to live to seek an assisted death, provided they receive approval from two doctors and a High Court judge.

This marks the first time MPs have voted on the issue of assisted dying since 2015. MPs from all parties were granted a ‘free vote’, with the government taking a neutral stance on the matter.

The bill will now enter the committee stage, where MPs can propose amendments before undergoing further scrutiny and votes in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords. Any legal change is unlikely to occur until next year at the earliest.

Labour MP Kim Leadbeater, who introduced the bill, has stated that it could take up to two more years for an assisted dying service to be established.

Campaigners both for and against the bill gathered outside Parliament as MPs voted.

During the debate prior to the vote, a senior Labour MP became emotional while speaking out against the bill, sharing the personal experience of her daughter’s illness.

Dame Meg Hillier recounted her daughter’s hospitalisation due to acute pancreatitis, emphasizing how effective palliative care relieved her pain.

She tearfully explained, “Those first five days she did not sleep and she was crying out in pain… I saw what good medicine can do that palliated that pain, that got her to a place where, although for two-and-a-half months she was unable to eat, she was saved.”

Dame Meg warned MPs that they were being asked to “cross a Rubicon” by supporting the legalization of assisted dying, calling it a profound change in the relationship between the state, the citizen, and their doctor. She urged MPs to vote against the bill if they had any doubts about allowing the state such power.