The law was approved mainly thanks to the socialists, who have an absolute majority, with 129 votes in favor and 81 against, in a total of 230 deputies in the Portuguese chamber.
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“We confirmed a law that was voted on several times by a large majority”, celebrated socialist deputy Isabel Moreira, one of the main promoters of the decriminalization of euthanasia.
According to the new law, people over the age of 18 will be able to request assistance in dying if they are suffering from a terminal illness and unbearable suffering.
It would only cover those suffering from “lasting” and “intolerable” pain, unless they are not considered mentally competent to make a decision. It applies to Portuguese citizens and legal residents, and not to foreigners who come to the country seeking assisted suicide.
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This topic divided Portugal – traditionally Catholic – and faced strong opposition from the conservative president Marcelo Rabelo de Sousa, a practicing Catholic.
The bill was approved by the Portuguese Parliament four times in the last three years, but was returned for constitutional review due to the president's opposition.
To avoid a veto by the head of state, who now has eight days to promulgate the text, the socialists decided to vote for the same bill for a second time.
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After the publication of the implementing decrees, the law could come into force in the autumn, according to estimates cited in the local press.
Fast approval
Rebelo de Sousa vetoed previous projects for having “excessively vague concepts”, later claiming that the language used to describe terminal conditions was contradictory and required clarification.
The new version of the law establishes that the euthanasia is only permitted in cases where “medically assisted suicide is impossible due to the patient's physical incapacity”.
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Rebelo de Sousa asked lawmakers to specify who will certify whether a patient is physically incapable of assisted suicide, but this time lawmakers refused to modify the text.
“The adoption of this new law was relatively quick compared to other large countries,” said Paulo Santos, a member of the “Right to Die with Dignity” organization.
However, “the fight doesn’t stop there”, he adds, because many doctors could use conscientious objection to avoid the practice of euthanasia, as some do in the case of abortion, which was legalized in a referendum in 2007.
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Critics point out that the issue was not submitted to a referendum and hope that opposition legislators will once again ask the Constitutional Court to review the project.
“It’s a whim of the deputies who didn’t want to listen to anyone,” said José Seabra Duque, member of the Portuguese Federation for Life.
A euthanasia and the assisted suicide They are only authorized in some European countries, such as Spain, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.
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