The Portuguese parliament has legalised euthanasia and assisted suicide
The Assembly of the Republic, Portugal's unicameral parliament, approved the legalisation of euthanasia on Friday. According to the act, which was backed by 136 deputies in a 230-member chamber, euthanasia will be possible for an adult after prior medical consultation.The person will have to be "chronically or terminally ill."
The dominant politicians of the centre-left and far-left parties in the parliament argued the need to legalise euthanasia as “the right of citizens to a dignified death”. Meanwhile, MPs from the centre-right Social Democratic Party and the CDS-PP people’s-Christian bloc pointed to the need to organise a referendum on this matter.
According to the episcopate, the parliamentary majority has rejected the lesson of this pandemic about the precious value of human life, which the community, and especially health workers, are trying to save with great effort.
The Portuguese bishops believe that the adopted law may still be subject to constitutional review, “because it is contrary to the principle of the inviolability of human life.”
Source: pch24.pl
