Bill to allow assisted dying in England and Wales fails as parliamentary time runs out

LONDON (AP) — A proposed bill to allow terminally ill adults in England and Wales to choose to end their lives failed Friday as parliamentary time ran out, nearly a year since elected members of parliaments gave their backing.

Though the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill was passed by the House of Commons last June, the U.K.'s revising chamber, the House of Lords, effectively talked it out since then.

Proponents of what has been termed “ assisted dying ” — sometimes referred to as “assisted suicide” — hoped it would mark the biggest change to social policy in the U.K. since abortion was partially legalized in 1967.

But opponents in the House of Lords have managed to hold up its passing by filing more than 1,200 amendments. That is believed to be a record high number for a piece of legislation that was tabled by a backbencher rather than by the government. Bills proposed by backbenchers can only be debated on a Friday, limiting the time available.

Campaigners for assisted dying have expressed their anger at the sight of unelected politicians holding up the will of the elected chamber. They have insisted that they intend to bring the bill back in the next parliamentary session, which begins after King Charles III outlines the government's upcoming program in a speech to both houses of Parliament on May 13.

The sponsor of the bill in the House of Lords, Charlie Falconer, said he felt “despondent” that a piece of legislation, which he said was “so important to so many, has not failed on its merits, but failed as a result of procedural wrangling."

He said many terminally ill people and their relatives “have shown such courage and forbearance” and have been “utterly bewildered by the way we have behaved."

The bill that's been making its way through parliament over the past 18 months or so had proposed allowing adults in England and Wales, with fewer than six months to live, to apply for an assisted death subject to the approval of two doctors and an expert panel.

Those tabling amendments in the House of Lords said they have been providing necessary scrutiny to strengthen the legislation. Some have branded it unsafe and unworkable, citing their concerns around potential coercion of vulnerable people and a lack of safeguards for those with disabilities.

Kim Leadbeater, who introduced the Bill to the House of Commons in late 2024, has said she will “keep pushing for a safer, more compassionate law until Parliament reaches a final decision."

Last month, lawmakers in the Scottish Parliament rejected legislation that would have made Scotland the first part of the United Kingdom to allow terminally ill adults to end their lives. Scotland has a semiautonomous government that has authority over many areas of policy, including health.

Assisted suicide — where patients take a lethal drink prescribed by a doctor — is legal in countries including Australia, Belgium, Canada, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and parts of the U.S., with regulations on qualifying criteria varying by jurisdiction.

Campaigners hold a banner outside parliament in London as a proposed law to legalise assisted dying in England and Wales will run out of time on Friday, more than a year after MPs first voted in favour of it, Friday, April 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

A campaigner holds a banner outside parliament in London as a proposed law to legalise assisted dying in England and Wales will run out of time on Friday, more than a year after MPs first voted in favour of it, Friday, April 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Campaigner Louise Shackleton holds a banner outside parliament in London as a proposed law to legalise assisted dying in England and Wales will run out of time on Friday, more than a year after MPs first voted in favour of it, Friday, April 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

A campaigner holds a banner outside parliament in London as a proposed law to legalise assisted dying in England and Wales will run out of time on Friday, more than a year after MPs first voted in favour of it, Friday, April 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Campaigners hold a banner outside parliament in London as a proposed law to legalise assisted dying in England and Wales will run out of time on Friday, more than a year after MPs first voted in favour of it, Friday, April 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

NEW YORK (AP) — A surge for Intel following a blowout profit report is leading technology stocks higher Friday, while oil prices keep swinging in the wait for what’s next with the Iran war.

The S&P 500 added 0.2% and inched near its all-time high set on Wednesday, even though most stocks within the index fell. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 177 points, or 0.4%, as of 10:15 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.7% higher.

Intel led the way and is potentially heading for its best day since 1987. It jumped 24.3% after reporting much stronger results for the first three months of the year than analysts expected. CEO Lip-Bu Tan said the next wave of artificial-intelligence technology is increasing the need for Intel’s chips and products, and the company’s forecast for profit in the spring topped analysts’ estimates.

Such strong profit reports have helped Wall Street rally to records, and the S&P 500 has leaped more than 12% in a little under a month. Hopes have also built in financial markets that the United States and Iran can find a way to avoid a worst-case scenario for the global economy because of their war.

A ceasefire is tenuously in place between the two, but tensions between them are still keeping oil tankers from passing through the Strait of Hormuz to deliver crude from the Persian Gulf to customers worldwide. Oil prices climbed this week on worries about the strait, but a potentially encouraging signal came Friday after Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency confirmed Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was heading to Pakistan for talks.

The price for a barrel of Brent crude to be delivered in June yo-yoed between roughly $103 and $107 in the morning and most recently was up less than 0.1% at $105.09. The price for Brent delivered in July, which is the more popular contract for traders, fell 0.2% to $99.12.

On Wall Street, Procter & Gamble rose 3.7% after reporting stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. CEO Shailesh Jejurikar said it saw broad-based growth across regions and products, which include Bounty paper towels and Tide detergent.

That helped offset a drop of 19.6% for Charter Communications, whose profit for the latest quarter came in weaker than analysts expected. It lost 120,000 internet customers during the three months, more than some analysts expected.

Hartford Insurance Group fell 2.3% after reporting profit growth for the latest quarter that fell short of analysts’ expectations.

In the bond market, Treasury yields eased after a report said sentiment among U.S. consumers remains sour. A survey by the University of Michigan found weaker sentiment in April across political party, income, age, and education, though it improved a bit after the ceasefire in the war with Iran was announced earlier in the month.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury dipped to 4.30% from 4.34% late Thursday.

In stock markets abroad, indexes slipped in much of Europe following a more mixed finish in Asia. Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1%, and France’s CAC 40 fell 0.8% for two of the world’s bigger moves.

AP Business Writers Chan Ho-him and Matt Ott contributed to this report.

Options trader Matthew Hefter, center, works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Thursday, April 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Specialist John Parisi works at his post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, April 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Currency traders watch monitors near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), top center, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, top center left, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, April 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Currency traders work near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), right, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, April 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

A board above the floor of the New York Stock Exchange displays the closing number for the Dow Jones industrial average, Thursday, April 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

A person stands in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Thursday, April 23, 2026, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

A currency trader watches monitors near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), top center, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, top center left, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, April 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)