The Portuguese parliament voted in favor of a limited legalization of euthanasia. According to the law, doctors will be able to help only terminally ill people who experience constant and unbearable suffering die, reports the BBC.
The euthanasia procedure can only be carried out in relation to mentally capable citizens or residents of Portugal who are 18 years old.
The majority of MPs voted in favor of the bill. He was supported by almost all the deputies of the ruling Socialist Party, three other small center-left parties included in parliament, the Liberal Initiative party, as well as some members of the opposition Social Democratic Party (PSD).
The bill was put to a vote by Isabelle Moreira of the Socialist Party, who called it "the realization of the rights and freedoms" granted to the Portuguese by the 1974 democratic revolution.
Euthanasia was opposed by Portuguese President Marcel Rebela de Souza, who vetoed a bill that Parliament managed to bypass. However, opponents of euthanasia still have the opportunity to apply to the Constitutional Court of the country and demand a review or freeze of the adopted reform, if every tenth parliamentarian submits such a request.
Euthanasia is legal in the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium, some US states and Switzerland. It has also been legal in Portugal's neighbor Spain since 2021.