The parliamentary process to decriminalize euthanasia in Portugal has been relaunched (see Portugal: Euthanasia again in Parliament). Parliament, with a Socialist majority, voted yesterday on several texts going in this direction, despite the reluctance of conservative President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa. These proposals should be incorporated into a text to be submitted to the Head of State.
In this country, the first bill decriminalizing euthanasia was passed in January 2021 before it was deemed unconstitutional (see Portugal: Euthanasia law deemed unconstitutional) and rejected by the president due to ambiguity (see euthanasia in Portugal: president opposes veto). Then, in November 2021, the president again vetoed another bill (see Euthanasia in Portugal: the new president’s veto). He can stick it a third time.
In the proposals submitted to Parliament this week, several semantic changes were adopted, including the replacement of ” fatal disease ” by ” A serious and incurable disease “.
Sources: BFMTV (06/10/22); Elbes, Terrexa Constella (22/09/06)
