The third one is the right one? After two previous votes in favor of a law decriminalizing “medically assisted death”, the Portuguese parliament once again gave its support to the reform. The law will now be scrutinized by conservative President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who can either enact the law, submit it for review by the Constitutional Court, or veto it, as he has already done twice times in the past. He said Thursday evening that he intended to decide fairly quickly, “certainly before Christmas”, on this question which has gone through several legislatures in recent years.
The bill was approved, to applause, thanks in particular to the votes of the Socialist Party, which has an absolute majority, and a few opposition deputies. This law reminds us that “the right to life cannot be transformed into a duty to live in any circumstances”, affirmed the socialist deputy Isabel Moreira, figurehead of the partisans of the legalization of euthanasia, to the outcome of the vote. The law on euthanasia “brings Portugal closer to the most permissive legislation”, regrets for its part the association of Catholic doctors.
“Free and informed” decision
The text approved on Friday specifies in particular that the decision to resort to medically assisted death results from a “repeated”, “free and informed” personal decision of a “major” person suffering from a “serious and incurable disease”.
When the previous law on this subject was voted in January 2021, then submitted to the Portuguese President, the Head of State first seized the Constitutional Court, which demanded some amendments, before vetoing it. The president then explained his decision by “a drafting problem” of the law, which according to him contained definitions that were too vague. Belgium and the Netherlands were the first two European states twenty years ago to authorize euthanasia, which has since been permitted in a handful of other countries in Europe.