The first step towards legalizing euthanasia?
- The Spanish Congress has gone further than ever before in this matter: the political parties will adopt, by absolute majority, a proposal for a law not to penalize euthanasia. Dignified death associations say that a door has been opened and they have hope, but there is a long way to go and things will not be easy for the PP, UPN and Ciudadanos.
The proposal was brought to the Catalan Parliament by the Catalan Association for the Right to Die in Dignity, which has now extended it to the Spanish Congress. The intention is to modify Article 143.4 of the Penal Code, an article that penalizes euthanasia, and on Thursday the majority of the parties announced that they will vote in favor of the proposal, the PP and the UPN will vote no and Citizens will abstain. Even fifteen months ago, Podemos made a proposal to regulate euthanasia, but at that time the PSOE did not vote for it.
“The proposal aims to make law what the majority of society wants. Deciding on one’s own death is no longer taboo,” says Alba Vergés (ERC).
“We have no intention of making any reforms”
However, the legislative proposal may still have major obstacles. The PP, UPN and Ciudadanos have enough seats in Congress to delay the processing deadlines as much as they want, and if they do so until the end of the legislature, the proposal would be cancelled. The Minister of Health, Dolors Montserrat, said: “Neither the PP nor the Spanish government have any plans to carry out any reform in favor of euthanasia.”
Euthanasia is legal in countries such as Oregon (USA), Switzerland, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium, Colombia and Canada.
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