Thomas D. Williams, Ph.D. – February 12, 2020
The Spanish parliament has approved a proposed law by the new Socialist-led government to legalize euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide.
On Tuesday, the controversial measure passed in parliament by 201 votes to 140, meaning the bill must now go to a parliamentary health committee for debate and then will head to the Senate before returning to the lower house for a final vote.
In Tuesday’s vote, parliament was predictably split, with generally leftist or libertarian parties such as PSOE, United We Can (UP), Citizens, ERC, JxCat, EH Bildu, New Canary Islands, Compromís and Más País all favoring the measure and the conservative PP, Vox and UPN opposing.
While there is no fixed calendar for this process, Health Minister Salvador Illa said he hoped to see the euthanasia law enacted by June.
The new bill, which has been hotly contested by the Catholic Church and other pro-life groups, requires the informed consent of the patient as well as the favorable judgment of two independent doctors and an evaluation commission.
According to the proposal, only those with a serious, chronic, and disabling illness or an incurable disease with a limited life expectancy can apply to be euthanized, whether in a hospital or at home.
Church leaders have denounced the “ideological and semantic euphemisms” behind the measure, while decrying the labeling of the bill’s opponents as “retrograde, intransigent, and contrary to individual freedom and progress.”