Alberta introduces major bill that would restrict euthanasia, ban it for minors

EDMONTON, Alberta (LifeSiteNews) — The Conservative provincial government of Alberta has introduced a first-in-Canada bill that would severely limit who can get euthanasia and ban it for minors, in what it said is to “strengthen protections for vulnerable Albertans” as well as allow doctors and hospitals to refuse to offer assisted suicide.

The Safeguards for Last Resort Termination of Life Act, or Bill 18, was announced by Alberta Premier Danielle Smith on Wednesday. Smith said the bill “strengthens safeguards and restores clear limits on eligibility to protect vulnerable Albertans facing mental illness or living with disabilities.”

“Those struggling with severe mental health challenges need treatment, compassion and support, not a path to end their life at what may be their lowest moment. In Alberta, a patient whose sole underlying condition is mental illness will not be eligible for MAID,” she said to the media.

Bill 18, once it becomes law, will limit assisted suicide or so-called “MAID” (“medical assistance in dying”) eligibility to those whose “natural death is reasonably foreseeable and prohibit MAID where a natural death is not reasonably foreseeable, also known as Track 2 MAID.”

The bill will also ban assisted suicide in Alberta for those under 18 and for those “whose sole condition is a mental illness.”

It would also let all physicians and health care facilities “refuse to assess or provide MAID” as well as ban “physicians from making referrals for individuals to receive MAID outside of Alberta.”

READ: Scotland shocks the world with unexpected defeat of euthanasia

The new law will also restrict health care professionals from “initiating conversations about MAID with a patient” and will mandate that euthanasia “providers” meet “education and training requirements and introduce sanctions for MAID assessors and providers not complying with the law.”

While current federal assisted suicide rules already ban most of these conditions, there is a strong possibility this will not remain the case in the future.

Because assisted suicide is federally legal, provinces can regulate the procedure but can’t ban it outright.

In 2021, the federal government under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expanded euthanasia from killing “terminally ill” patients to allowing the chronically ill to qualify after the passage of Bill C-7. Since then, the government has sought to include those suffering solely from mental illness.

In February 2024, the federal government delayed the mental illness expansion until 2027 after pushback from pro-life, medical, and mental health groups, as well as most of Canada’s provinces.

The United Conservative Party (UCP) government had last month announced that such legislation relating to euthanasia was forthcoming.

Pro-lifers praise move by Smith government to limit euthanasia

Many prominent pro-life Canadians praised news of Alberta’s new bill placing strict limits on assisted suicide as a step in the right direction.

President of Campaign Life Coalition (CLC) Jeff Gunnarson said it was a “move in the right direction.”

“Praise God, this is boldly moving in the right direction @UCPCaucus,” he wrote in an X post on Wednesday.

Amanda Achtman, a strong pro-life advocate for compassionate palliative care, also welcomed the news, saying Smith’s UCP government is showing “leadership.”

“The Government of Alberta is showing leadership by banning euthanasia for Albertans whose deaths are not ‘reasonably foreseeable.’ This means that Alberta will be the first province to scrap Track 2 MAID! 2/10,” she wrote in an X post.

According to the UCP, giving Albertans health care and supporting the “well-being of Albertans is one of the provincial government’s most important responsibilities.”

“The consequences of a decision to access MAID are permanent and irrevocable. Alberta’s government must consider any policy impacting MAID with the utmost care and caution,” it noted.

Alberta’s Minister of Justice and Attorney General Mickey Amery said the government has a “responsibility to protect vulnerable Albertans.”

“This legislation will ensure that proper protections and oversight are in place and MAID only remains as an option of last resort,” he added.

The UCP government has noted that since assisted suicide was expanded via “Track 2,” deaths have gone up 136 percent from 2021 to 2025.

The Liberal government under Prime Ministers Trudeau and Mark Carney, however, has worked to expand euthanasia 13-fold since it was legalized in 2016. Canada now has the fastest-growing assisted-suicide program in the world. Meanwhile, Health Canada released a series of studies on advanced requests for assisted suicide.

Euthanasia is now the sixth-highest cause of death in Canada, after it was not listed in Statistics Canada’s top 10 leading causes of death from 2019 to 2022.