MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay — MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay (AP) — Uruguay's Senate passed a bill Wednesday to decriminalize euthanasia, putting the South American country among others where seriously ill patients can legally get help to end their lives.
This makes Uruguay the first country in predominantly Catholic Latin America to legally allow euthanasia. Colombia and Ecuador have decriminalized the practice through Supreme Court decisions.
In Chile, leftist President Gabriel Borich recently resumed campaign for approval of euthanasia law stalled for a long time in the Senate.
Fierce debate and vigorous activity around this practice have swept the region in recent years.
“Public opinion demands that we take this on,” Senator Patricia Cramer of Uruguay's ruling left-wing coalition told lawmakers in the capital Montevideo.
The legislation, which has moved forward in fits and starts over the past five years, cleared its final hurdle Wednesday, with 20 of 31 senators voting in favor of it. The Lower House overwhelmingly approved the bill in August. All that remains for the government is to implement these rules.
During the debate, senators from the ruling Broad Front coalition passionately defended the right to die, comparing the euthanasia movement to the legalization of divorce and same-sex marriage.
“We all believe and feel that life is a right, both in health and in the case of illness, but it should never be a duty because others do not understand such unbearable suffering,” said Senator Daniel Borbonet, citing testimony from Uruguayan patients with irreversible diseases.
The greatest opposition to euthanasia in Uruguay came from the Catholic Church. Before the vote, Daniel Sturla, the archbishop of Montevideo, called on Uruguayans to “defend the gift of life and remember that every person deserves to be cared for, accompanied and supported until the end.”
But secularization undermined resistance to a practice in this country of 3.5 million that bans any mention of God in an oath and calls Christmas “Family Day.”
Officials hailed the law as bolstering Uruguay's reputation as one of the region's most socially liberal countries. The country was the first in the world to legalize marijuana for recreational use and passed groundbreaking legislation allowing same-sex marriage and abortion more than a decade ago.
“This is a historic event that puts Uruguay at the forefront of deeply human and sensitive issues,” said Vice President Caroline Causset.
The legislation allows euthanasia performed by a medical professional, but not assisted suicide, which involves the patient self-administering a lethal dose of a prescribed drug.
Unlike state laws in the United States, Australia and New Zealand that limit euthanasia to those with a life expectancy of no more than six months or a year, Uruguay does not impose time limits. It also does not require a waiting period and allows anyone suffering from a terminal illness causing “intolerable suffering” to seek assistance in dying, even if their diagnosis is not terminal.
Uruguay requires that those seeking euthanasia be mentally competent.
While the law does not completely ban euthanasia for people with mental illnesses such as depression, it does require patients to see two doctors to ensure they are mentally prepared enough to make the decision.
Unlike Belgium, Colombia and the Netherlands, Uruguay will not allow euthanasia of minors.
