Scotland has moved a step closer to legalising assisted suicide after Liam McArthur's bill passed the stage one vote on Tuesday evening.
The vote was on the general principles of the bill, with MSPs voting 70 in favour to 56 against, with one abstention.
Lib Dem MSP Liam McArthur, who proposed the bill, said it was a “landmark moment for Scotland”.
The bill now progresses to stage two where MSPs can propose changes before another vote on a final draft. A raft of amendments are expected to be put forward.
Stuart Weir, head of Christian charity, CARE for Scotland, said he was "deeply saddened" by the outcome of Tuesday's vote and that his thoughts were with "disabled Scots and many others who will be feeling great anxiety".
“Assisted suicide would undermine suicide prevention in Scotland and send a harmful message that some lives aren’t worth living," he said.
"Evidence from other countries shows that ‘safeguards’ do not work. And we know that marginalised and vulnerable members of society suffer the worst abuses. We hope that parliament will reconsider at stage three."
He is calling on the Scottish Parliament to invest in better palliative care instead. “Instead of legislating for assisted suicide, the Scottish state should be ensuring that every life is protected and focusing on improving truly life-affirming forms of care," he continued.
"Holistic palliative care can meet the physical, mental, relational, and spiritual needs of terminally ill Scots – but only if it receives appropriate investment and prioritisation.”
Catherine Robinson, of Right to Life UK, is still hopeful that the bill will be defeated at a later stage.
"A number of MSPs made it clear that they were only voting through the bill to continue the debate around this bill, and would not necessarily support the bill at the final vote at stage three. This means that this bill can still be defeated," she said.
"We are now going to redouble our efforts to ensure we fight this bill at every stage and ensure that it is defeated to protect the most vulnerable."
Dr Gordon Macdonald, CEO of the Care Not Killing coalition, called the bill "dangerous and ideological", and said he was encouraged by how narrow the majority was.
"The simple explanation is the more MSPs hear what legalising assisted dying would mean - rewriting the NHS charter, fundamentally changing the nature of health care in Scotland - and how it would put pressure on the terminally ill, vulnerable and disabled people to end their lives prematurely, the less inclined they are to back it," he said.
The vote was held just weeks after the Isle of Man passed assisted suicide laws, and comes as MPs in Westminster prepare to vote on similar proposals for England and Wales put forward by Kim Leadbeater.
Dr Macdonald raised fears about the widening of laws in places where assisted suicide is already legal as an indication of what Scotland can expect if it follows the same path.
“The McArthur Bill, just like the Leadbeater south of the border is modelled on the US state of Oregon, where a majority of those ending their lives consistently cite fear of being a burden on their families, carers or finances as a reason," he said.
"Here we have also seen how a law sold to the public as being for terminally ill mentally competent adults has been expanded to include those eating disorders such as anorexia and even insulin dependent diabetes."
What the Scottish Parliament should really be debating is the funding crisis in the palliative care system, he argued.
“As in the rest of the UK, Scotland’s palliative care system is massively under resourced and stretched to breaking point. Yet we are not debating how to fix it," he said.
"The scandal here is there are more elected politicians in Holyrood than palliative care doctors in Scotland and one in four people who would benefit from this type of care aren’t receiving it.
"This is what we should be talking about and finding how we can ensure whether you live in Peebles, Glasgow, Fort William or Findochty you have access to the very best care. In short, we need more care not killing.”
