Spain debates bill to legalize euthanasia.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Reuters reported that the Spanish parliament voted 203 to 140 (2 abstained) to continue debating a bill to legalize euthanasia in Spain. Reuters stated:

“We’re talking about clearly debilitating diseases without a cure, without a solution and which cause significant suffering,” government spokeswoman Maria Jesus Montero said, adding that doctors who object to the practice will be able to opt out.

Montero is suggesting that the legislation will only allow euthanasia for extreme cases, but the reality is that once it is legal the law must be equally applied or it will be considered discriminatory.

The Quebec Minister of Health, in 2014, suggested that there would only be 100 euthanasia deaths per year. In 2019, approximately 5000 people died by euthanasia in Canada.

Euthanasia requires the direct action of a doctor to approve and carry-out a death by lethal injection.

The bill will now go to the Parliamentary Health Committee for discussion and then to the Senate before it can return to the lower house for a final vote.