MPs have voted to prevent health professionals such as doctors from initiating conversations with under-18s about assisted dying, as they continued scrutiny of the Terminally Ill Adults Bill.
The bill would only allow those over the age of 18, and with less than six months to live, to receive medical assistance to die in England and Wales.
Labour MP Meg Hillier, who tabled the amendment to the bill, had previously warned MPs to be alert to "the very real risk" of an assisted dying law being expanded to cover children and young people.
Her amendment was opposed by the bill's proposer Kim Leadbeater, but approved in the House of Commons by 259 votes to 216.
It marks the first time Leadbeater has been defeated on her bill in a vote in the House of Commons – although, there were defeats when the legislation was being considered at committee stage.
In a statement, a group of Labour MPs concerned about assisted dying said the result represented a "vote of no confidence in the bill and has shattered the claim that bill was the safest in the world".
A backer of the bill, Conservative Neil Shastri-Hurst, had previously argued against the proposal, warning it would leave a terminally ill young person "isolated, navigating a complex and deeply personal journey through the filter of online forums, rather than in dialogue with trusted, qualified professionals".
Hillier's other amendment seeking to stop health professionals from raising assisted dying with any patient was defeated by 256 votes to 230 – a majority of 26.
Other changes made to the bill include a ban on advertising assisted dying services and a measure to ensure assisted deaths carried out under the bill would not be deemed unnatural and therefore not be automatically referred to a coroner.
