BE sees no reason why Portugal should not have a law on medically assisted death
The coordinator of the Left Block (BE) considers this Saturday there are no reasons for Portugal not to have a law on medically assisted death, after Parliament has approved the new decree on euthanasia.
“After yesterday’s vote [sexta-feira] in Parliament and outdated constitutional issues, there is no reason why Portugal does not now have a law that respects the will of each person at the end of their life”, understood Catarina Martins at a party rally at the Coliseu do Porto.
The new decree on euthanasia was approved Friday in Parliament with votes in favor of a large part of the PS, BE, PAN, PEV, IL and the two non-registered deputies, as well as 13 deputies of the PSD.
They voted against this new version of the decree, which included several proposals for amendment to purge as unconstitutionalities of the initial law vetoed by the President of the Republic, seven deputies from the PS, 62 from the PSD, the benches of the PCP, CDS-PP and the sole deputy of the He arrives .
“What we have come to get here. There were years of discussion in Parliament, in a debate that involved the country for the drafting of a law that respects the dignity of each person and that respects the Constitution of our Republic. And if it were years of debate in parliament, there were decades of deep discussion in Portuguese society”, recalled the blocist.
Catarina Martins emphasizes that this law had contributions from many areas of society and politics, has many faces and certainly has a name: it is João Semedo’s law [antigo líder do BE falecido em 2018 e defensor da eutanásia].
The vote on the decree that regulates the conditions under which medically assisted death is not punishable and that amends the Penal Code was the culmination of a process of parliamentary review of the diploma, following the veto for unconstitutionality of the President of the Republic, who returned the diploma in March to the Assembly of the Republic.
Changes to the decree decriminalizing euthanasia include, among others, a new initial definition article to clarify concepts, eight in total, from medically assisted death to “definitive injury”, a serious or incurable illness.
The Constitutional Court (TC) ruled on March 15, by a majority of seven judges against five, this law, in response to a request for preventive inspection made by Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.
In the judgment, the CT pointed out the “imprecision” of the concept of “definitive injury of extreme gravity according to scientific consensus”, stating that it did not allow “delimiting, with the necessary rigor, according to the life hypotheses in which it can be applied” .
In July, at the end of the previous legislative session, PS, BE, PAN, PEV and the Liberal Initiative, parties with projects on euthanasia, agreed, in an informal meeting, on the final text to overcome the “lead” of the Constitutional Court.
No debate on Thursday, matches that dissipated from guaranteed changes that the new text answers the questions raised by the TC, while PSD and CDS-PP accused these benches of trying to pass a law “in the 25th hour”, compared to the announced dissolution of parliament.