By Dave Andrusko
When I read an Associated Press story this morning about the possible legalization of euthanasia in Portugal, the operative sentence was
The outcome of Portugal’s vote was uncertain and likely to be close.
The AP’s Barry Hatton wrote
The two main parties, the Socialists and the main opposition Social Democratic Party, allowed their lawmakers to vote according to their conscience. The two parties have 175 of the 230 members of the Republican Assembly, Portugal’s parliament.
And the vote was very good close and–from an anti-euthanasia perspective–great news!
Reuters reported the measure was defeated 115 to 110 “with 4 abstentions, after a heated debate and a vote that required each lawmaker to declare his or her stance.”
In a typically slanted post, Andrei Khalip wrote
Earlier, a few hundred people of all ages – mostly from religious groups and Catholic schools – protested in front of the parliament building, chanting “Yes to life, no to euthanasia!” and carrying placards, “We demand palliative care for ALL” and, “Euthanasia is a recipe for elder abuse.”
No doubt one key factor in the very narrow victory is that in opposing the bill, the Portuguese Doctors’ Association said it violated key principles of the medical profession.
Brushing aside the defeat, proponents found reason for cheer, according to Khalip.
“The issue is now firmly on the political agenda, it is now in detailed debate in society,” said Catarina Martins, leader of the Left Bloc – a key government ally in parliament, which had its own version of a legalization proposal.
According to the earlier AP story, “The debate in parliament was scheduled to end in a vote later in the day on four broadly similar bills tabled [introduced] by left-leaning parties, including the governing Socialist Party.”
The debate in Portugal is the latest in a string of setbacks for the assisted suicide movement. As NRL News Today reported, bills to legalized euthanasia have recently been defeated in Finland and Guernsey, a British Crown dependency in the English Channel.
SPUC reported “a citizens’ initiative on ‘active death help’ or euthanasia has been overwhelmingly rejected by the Finnish parliament, by a vote of 128 to 60 against the initiative. Instead, a comprehensive investigation into palliative end-of-life care will be carried out, the Finnish newspaper Hufvudstadsbladet reported.”
In Guersney, the Parliament “voted 24-14 to reject an Oregon-style bill for assisted suicide,” according to Michael Cook. “The proposal was a private member’s bill proposed by Guernsey’s chief minister, Gavin St Pier.”
In addition, earlier this month Judge Daniel Ottolia’s ruled that California lawmakers illegally used a special session in 2015 to ram through a highly controversial assisted suicide law.