Portugal legalizes euthanasia for people over 18 | World News

After a long struggle, Portugal on Friday passed a law legalizing euthanasia for people suffering from great suffering and incurable diseases, joining a handful of countries around the world.

The issue has divided the deeply religious country and has drawn fierce opposition from conservative President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, a devout Christian.

Under its rules, people over the age of 18 are allowed to request assistance in dying if they are terminally ill and in unbearable pain.

It would only cover those suffering “persistent” and “intolerable” suffering, unless they were deemed mentally unfit to make such a decision.

The law will apply only to nationals and legal residents, not to foreigners entering the country seeking euthanasia.

The euthanasia bill has been approved by parliament four times in the past three years but has been sent back for constitutional review each time due to opposition from the president.

The final version of the law was passed on Friday with the support of the ruling Socialists, who hold a solid majority in parliament.

“We are confirming a law that has been approved many times by an overwhelming majority,” said Socialist MP Isabel Moreira, an ardent advocate for legalizing euthanasia.

The president now has a week to enact the new law. Portuguese media said it could come into effect in the autumn.

“We have finally ended a long battle,” Moreira told AFP earlier this week.

– The debate continues –

Rebelo de Sousa, who had vetoed the earlier bill citing “excessively undefined concepts,” later said the language used to describe end-of-life conditions remained contradictory and needed clarification.

The new law now states that euthanasia is only permitted “in cases where medically assisted suicide is not possible due to the patient’s physical disability”.

Rebelo de Sousa has asked lawmakers to specify who will “certify” whether a patient is physically incapable of assisted suicide, but lawmakers have declined to change the text this time around.

Katharina Martins, leader of the far-left group, said the problems raised by the president could be solved by enforcing the decree.

Rebelo de Sousa himself said the law’s approval was “not a big show” and did not raise “constitutional issues.”

In Portugal, the debate over medically assisted dying is far from over.

“The law was passed relatively quickly compared to other large countries,” said Paulo Santos, a member of Right To Die With Dignity, a pro-euthanasia group.

He warned that many doctors may raise a moral objection to performing euthanasia, as they did with abortion in 2007.

“It is very likely that euthanasia will lead to greater resistance,” he told AFP.

Critics of medically assisted dying, for their part, regret that the issue has not yet been put to a referendum and hope that opposition representatives will again ask the constitutional court to look into the bill.

Euthanasia and assisted suicide are permitted in only a handful of countries, including the Benelux countries and Portugal’s neighbor Spain.