M

Member

Speaking in the House of Lords on 5 December 2025

Debate

Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

Contribution

It is therefore surely right to give these groups of young people the extra time that the law currently allows to form views and make decisions about their adult lives. More generally, as others have said, the growing body of evidence on adolescent brain development and impulsivity also points us towards a minimum age of 25 for such a fundamental choice. Adolescence is often characterised by heightened emotions and foolish choices, and making foolish choices is a normal and natural part of growing up. In most cases, we survive those foolish choices and can look back and perhaps laugh at our melodramatic younger selves. But it is tragic when these heightened emotions lead children and young adults to end their lives when a little more time and maturity might have seen them through their moments of greatest unhappiness. The young people who have chosen assisted dying in a fit of adolescent bleakness will already be dead. The noble Lord, Lord Moore of Etchingham, made some strong and persuasive points about the adolescent understanding of death.

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