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LISBON, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) The Portuguese parliament approved on Friday the legalization of euthanasia practiced or helped by health professionals in the country with 136 votes of deputies in favor and 78 against, in addition to four abstentions.
According to the bill, a person aged over 18 can be medically assisted in death whose will is current and reiterated, serious, free and enlightened, in a situation of intolerable suffering, with a definite injury of extreme severity in accordance with scientific consensus or incurable and fatal disease.
The bill, which also guarantees that doctors and nurses can refuse to assist in euthanasia due to conscientious objection, now goes to President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who may veto, send it to the Constitutional Court or even promulgate directly.
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Posted on 30 January 2021.
Portugal Parliament voted overwhelming, on Friday, 136-78 with four abstentions, in favor of euthanasia, allowing doctors to medically assist patients to commit suicide through lethal drugs.
Although President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, with 20 days to deliberate, has the power to approve, veto or send the law to the Constitutional Court for review, Parliament can override the president’s veto.
President Rebelo de Sousa, a conservative practicing Catholic, has indicated he may oppose the measure on the basis of the law infringing Portugal’s constitution, which states “human life is inviolable.”
Most legislators from the governing Socialist Party (PS) voted in favor, along with the other left-leaning smaller liberal, political factions. The law combines five right-to-die bills passed on February 2020.
The Portuguese parliament approved on Friday the legalization of euthanasia practiced or helped by health professionals in the country with 136 votes of deputies in favor and 78 against, in addition to four abstentions.
According to the bill, a person aged over 18 can be medically assisted in death whose will is current and reiterated, serious, free and enlightened, in a situation of intolerable suffering, with a definite injury of extreme severity in accordance with scientific consensus or incurable and fatal disease.
The bill, which also guarantees that doctors and nurses can refuse to assist in euthanasia due to conscientious objection, now goes to President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who may veto, send it to the Constitutional Court or even promulgate directly.
Portugal's parliament on Friday passed a law allowing medically assisted dying, putting the Catholic-majority country on course to become the fourth in Europe to legalise euthanasia.
Before coming into force the bill must first be signed into law by President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, a staunch Catholic and conservative who was re-elected only last weekend.
The president, who has yet to make public his position on the issue, could also either use his veto against the legislation or refer it to the country's constitutional court for further study.