Spain Passes Law Legalizing Euthanasia For The Terminally Ill

Spain's parliament Friday approved a new law that would legalize euthanasia, making the country the fourth European Union member country to do so.

Under the new law, people who fall into a specific category will be allowed to request medical assistance to initiate their deaths. This includes people that are suffering from "serious, chronic illnesses with no chance of recovery."

"Today, a majority of parliament has borne witness to people who are ill who have been clamoring for years for this right," Socialist Party MP Maria Luisa Carcedo said. The vote in parliament was 202 to 141. 

During the final debate before the law was approved, Carcedo cited the case of Ramon Sampedro. The case, which involved Sampedro's assisted suicide in 1998, was made into an Oscar-winning movie in 2004, titled "The Sea Inside."

The new law is expected to take effect within the next three months. Once it goes into effect, people that had been jailed for helping people commit suicide will be pardoned. Doctors will also be given the right to refuse or accept requests for assisted suicide at their discretion.

The only other European Union member countries that permit euthanasia are Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. The three countries only permit the act under very strict conditions.

Spain's far-right Vox party, which had openly opposed the passing of the law in the heavily Catholic country, said it would "provoke distrust" and give the "weakest in society" a "reason to fear." Vox party member MP Lourdes Mendez said that the country has "elected death instead of medicine." Mendez said that she will be filing an appeal with the country's Constitutional Court.

Spanish journalist Asun Gomez Bueno said that she was happy that the law was approved as it would ensure that nobody would have to go through what she went through with her husband. Bueno lost her husband to multiple sclerosis in 2017. Since then, she has been an advocate for the passing of the euthanasia law.

"There was no treatment to mitigate his pain. The pain was so terrible he didn't want to sleep at night because he knew the next day would worse. Euthanasia is a right that can only be requested by the person involved. It is a right, not an obligation," Bueno said.