Uruguay’s Lower House Supports Legalizing Euthanasia; a Senate Vote Is Anticipated by the End of the Year
Uruguay’s lower house has passed a bill to make suicide legal. The bill will now go to the senate, where it is likely to be approved.
The Uruguayan Chamber of Representatives decided to legalize euthanasia. This is a big step toward becoming one of the countries that allow assisted dying. The bill passed on Wednesday with 64 votes in favor out of 99. The debate the night before had been very heated. Now it goes to the Senate, where most people think it will be passed before the end of the year.
The proposed law says that people who are mentally competent and have incurable or terminal illnesses can ask for euthanasia. A key change that said the medical board had to look at it if the two attending doctors didn’t agree helped get more lawmakers to support it.
Before the debate started, Luis Gallo, a lawmaker from the center-left Broad Front group, thanked the patients whose stories inspired the bill. According to Gallo, the request is very personal and should not get in the way of the patient’s free will because it is about their life, their pain, and their choice not to live.
National public opinion polls show that a lot of people, including President Yamandú Orsi, support suicide. Uruguay has always been a leader in Latin America when it comes to progressive changes. For example, it was the first country to legalize gay marriage, abortion, and cannabis. Now, it is getting closer to joining Cuba, Colombia, Ecuador, Canada, Spain, and New Zealand in recognizing the right to die with medical help.
In 2019, the debate about euthanasia picked up speed when Fernando Sureda, a former head of Uruguay’s football association who has a disease that gets worse over time, openly pushed for the right to choose an assisted death.
If passed, the bill would be another important step forward for progressive legislation in Uruguay. It could also change how end-of-life care is provided in the mostly Catholic area.
