Parliament Portugal makes steps towards legalising euthanasia

The Portuguese news platform Lusa writes that the four bills come from the Socialist Party, the Left Bloc, IL and PAN. The aim is the decriminalisation of medically assisted death.

Euthanasia is a very contentious issue in Portugal. Earlier attempts from 2018 onwards to legalise assisted death failed. Late last year, President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa vetoed an accepted bill for the second time. He found the wording of the legal text too vague.

Earlier, in February 2021, the president ordered the bill to be sent back to the Constitutional Court for legal advice. The Court rejected the bill as too vague. A new text was approved by parliament in November 2021 but was vetoed by the president.

Characteristic of the new proposals is that the requirement of "fatal illness" is removed. That is replaced by a "serious and incurable illness" (which is the wording of the Dutch euthanasia law) and "definitive injury of extreme gravity". These wordings are relevant since the president's veto had to do with these formulations.

From the beginning of the process, the Portuguese head of state defended that there should be a comprehensive and lengthy debate in the society. He himself has consistently refused to reveal his personal position. Clearly, the president doubts whether the concept of euthanasia corresponds "with the dominant feeling of the Portuguese society". According to Lusa, there was a silent protest in the centre of Lisbon on Thursday against the debate in the parliament.

The parliament rejected a proposal for having a referendum on the legalisation of euthanasia.

Avoid suffering

The Roman Catholic bishops have "distanced" themselves from the bills. The clerics fear that these proposals could make it possible for medics to act beyond situations of imminent death. This is reported by Ecclesia.

According to the bishops, everyone should be protected by the Biblical commandment, "Thou shalt not kill." "But under the "law of men", the state allows to take life", a document reads. "Human dignity, which must always be guaranteed and also at the end of life, does not involve the right to ask for death." At the end of life, there should be a "guarantee of all care to avoid suffering."