A debate on whether pregnant mothers should be able to legally kill themselves and their preborn children is taking center stage as more U.S. states attempt to legalize assisted suicide.

Across the pond in England, the House of Lords is trying to pass a bill legalizing assisted suicide for anyone doctors claim have six months or less to live.

The committee hearing went viral after Lord Falconer, the bill’s sponsor, said that pregnancy should not bar a patient from assisted suicide.

And this idea is heading to America.

Five days after Englishmen were pushing for the death of innocent mothers and their preborn children, New York Governor Kathy Hochul released an update on the state’s Medical Aid in Dying (MAID) Act.

“My mother died of ALS, and I am all too familiar with the pain of seeing someone you love suffer and being powerless to stop it,” said Gov. Hochul in the written announcement. “Although this was an incredibly difficult decision, I ultimately determined that with the additional guardrails agreed upon with the legislature, this bill would allow New Yorkers to suffer less–to shorten not their lives, but their deaths.”

TO SEE HOW GOV. HOCHUL IS WRONG, READ: POWERFUL: Pro-Life Maryland Resident Destroyed Argument For Assisted Suicide 

Alongside the concerning implication that the governor wishes she could have legally encouraged her mother to commit suicide, Hochul released the new list of guidelines for the legislation.  

Guidelines include a mandatory five-day waiting period between getting the prescription and filling it, a requirement to record by audio or video the patient consenting to assisted suicide, mandatory mental health evaluations, and more. She even allowed religious providers to opt-out of committing assisted suicide.

Hochul also limited who would be eligible for assisted suicide. Only residents of New York will be eligible under Hochul’s changes.

But there is one group not mentioned in the original bill or Hochul’s additions: pregnant mothers.

For Hochul to leave this out of her guidelines within days of the hearing in England going viral is alarming.

Sadly, this isn’t unique.

Twelve U.S. states have allowed assisted suicide since as early as 2008.

California, Colorado, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington state all allow assisted suicide. The Illinois law will go into effect on September 12, 2026.

None of these states give restrictions for pregnant mothers.

Corinne Carey, Senior Campaign Director for Compassion & Choices NY/NJ, stated in Gov. Hochul’s news release that “[MAID] is about compassion, family, love, and respect for bodily autonomy. New Yorkers deserve nothing less. I am grateful that Governor Hochul listened to the voices of people whose lives and deaths were directly affected.”

READ: Is Physician Assisted Suicide a Compassionate Choice? 

While the English bill has a long road of committee hearings and more to become a law, all that New York’s MAID law requires is Gov. Hochul’s signature. The governor plans to do so after the New York State Legislature returns to session. That session begins on January 7.

Many other states are considering similar bills. Indiana, Massachusetts (which has two bills), Minnesota (which also has two bills), New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania all had legalization of assisted suicide on the table in 2025. North Carolina’s General Assembly introduced a bill to study assisted suicide to decide whether the state should legalize the practice.

With the exception of New Hampshire, all those states plan to continue consideration of the bills into their 2026 legislative sessions. None of these bills address the eligibility of pregnant mothers. 

The problems with assisted suicide do not end there. 

Many of these bills restrict eligibility to those with a life expectancy of six months or less despite doctors having a long history of incorrectly estimating life expectancy in patients with terminal illnesses. The National Institute of Health published a study finding doctors’ estimates to be accurate only 20% of the time on average. 

Errors in prognoses can mean the difference between life and death for mothers and preborn children. 

“Although doctors commonly have to prognosticate, most feel uncomfortable doing so,” says the NIH study. “Neither medical training, nor published literature, treat prognostication as important, and prognostic error is widespread. Unfortunately, prognostic error may have untoward effects on both patient care and social policy.” 

Futhermore, suicide is already a leading cause of death during pregnancy. 

“In the United Kingdom and Ireland, maternal suicide is the leading direct cause of death between 6 weeks and a year after the end of pregnancy and the second commonest direct cause of death occurring during or within 6 weeks of the end of pregnancy,” according to another NIH study. 

“It can be challenging to imagine that someone would take their own life during a period that is generally viewed as one of the happiest events in life. Yet death by suicide is a leading cause of maternal mortality and accounts for about 20% of postpartum deaths,” according to a study from Johns Hopkins University. 

And yet, both countries are pushing to allow vulnerable pregnant women to take both their own life and that of their preborn child. 

Students for Life of America (SFLA) has fought against assisted suicide as part of our mission to protect and honor all life.  

SFLA students have been vocal in Washington state and Maryland fighting their state’s MAID laws. Our students have fought alongside disability groups, as people with disabilities are often targeted to be killed by both abortion and assisted suicide. 

Assisted suicide laws are yet another example of progressive death culture preferring to kill human beings rather than helping them in their greatest times of need. People with chronic and terminal illnesses deserve proper care, not pressure to end their life from the physicians who are supposed to heal them. 

READ: Physician Assisted Suicide Isn’t About Patient Care — It’s About Physician Laziness 

Students for Life of America will continue to fight for life at all health and stages. 

For more information from SFLA on assisted suicide, visit: Euthanasia & End of Life Issues. 

MORE FROM SFLA ON ASSISTED SUICIDE: 

READ: HORRIFYING: Retirement Community ‘Chaplain’ Advocates For Assisted Suicide 

READ: Prescribed Murder: The Horror of Physician-Assisted Suicide Outlined Through Death of Healthy Sisters in Switzerland Euthanasia 

READ: These Two Doctors Debated about Assisted Suicide