The Portuguese Parliament approved today the decriminalization of euthanasia despite the last political veto of the Portuguese president, the conservative Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, and the rejection of the right, which threatens appeals before the Constitutional Court that will not paralyze the application of the norm.
Almost six years have passed since the Chamber first debated the issue and several versions of the law have been necessary to overcome Rebelo de Sousa's four attempts to strike down the proposal: two political vetoes and two due to legal issues in the Constitutional Court..
Finally, the law was approved today by 129 votes coming from the socialist ranks, with an absolute majority in the Chamber, the Left Bloc, the animalists, Livre and Iniciativa Liberal, the only right-wing party that joined the initiative.
Against, 81 votes from the Communist Party -the exception of support among the left-, the conservative Social Democratic Party and the far-right Chega.
Both Socialists and PSD gave their deputies freedom to vote and, as a result, 4 of the PS voted against and eight of the Conservatives voted in favor..
The presidential veto does not prevent the entry into force of the law given that, as the socialist deputy Isabel Moreira explained to Efe, the Constitution establishes that, despite the presidential veto, with a majority of more than 116 deputies it goes ahead.
Rebelo de Sousa, a practicing Catholic, now has a period of eight days to promulgate the norm.
The president wanted to get ahead of the speculation by ensuring that his latest veto responds to a “precision” and not to a problem of unconstitutionality and that “there is no drama” with his approval.
From the PSD and Chega, however, they threaten to resort to the Constitutional Court -although the procedure would not paralyze the application of the regulations- and they are committed to calling a referendum.
On the street, 61% of the Portuguese support the decriminalization of euthanasia, according to a survey carried out in February by Aximage for various Portuguese media, which also revealed that the figure grows to 70% in the group between 18 and 35 years of age..
six years of debate
Portugal thus joins other European neighbours, such as Spain or Belgium, after a process that has lasted six years, has gone through three socialist legislatures and has required five votes in plenary session of Parliament.
“No country has discussed for so many years so many guarantees, so many details, so many procedures as Portugal”, says Isabel Moreira, convinced that the text approved today is “very guaranteeing”.
During this long process, Parliament has reformulated its content to overcome each of the vetoes, but has approved the latest wording after ruling out constitutionality problems..
“The law has all the legitimacy to proceed,” Catarina Martins, of the Left Bloc, defended today.
Preference for assisted suicide
The text approved today defines medically assisted death as that which “occurs by their own decision”, applicable in adults who demonstrate “great intensity suffering, with definitive injury of extreme gravity or serious and incurable illness” and when it is “practiced or assisted by a health professional”.
Gives priority to assisted suicide and may be applied in cases of patients who are physically unable to do it for themselves.
It also limits the procedure to Portuguese citizens or those residing in the country.
The president now has eight days to promulgate the law, which will enter into force the day after its publication in the Diario de la República..