In a vote - this time yes - historic, the Congress of Deputies approved this Thursday afternoon the first law that will regulate the exercise of the right to euthanasia in Spain.
The proposal promoted in its day by the PSOE has obtained broad support, with 198 votes in favor, 138 against and two abstentions, beyond the majority that normally supports the Government, to which Citizens, Junts per Catalunya have joined and the CUP.
Only the right - PP, Vox and Unión del Pueblo Navarro - has opposed the law, which now has to go through the Senate process and, if the promoters' forecasts are met, it will come into force in the first weeks of the new year.
Spain becomes the sixth country in the world to recognize the right to a dignified death, after the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Canada and New Zealand.
The law will allow people with an irreversible illness to benefit from this right, who have reiterated up to four times their desire to end their lives and with the mandatory medical reports.
A "guarantee" rule, according to all the groups that have supported it, and which also recognizes the right to conscientious objection of health personnel.
Spokesmen for various groups have taken advantage of the approval to pay tribute to people who over the years have fought for the recognition of this right, from Ramón Sampedro to María José Carrasco or Dr. Luis Montes, who was fired 15 years ago from his post in the Leganés hospital after the Community of Madrid accused him of irregularly sedating terminally ill patients.
In video, the Minister of Health, Salvador Illa, values the approval of the euthanasia law.EFE / VIDEO: EFE
The groups that have supported the law have highlighted that, according to all known polls, the majority of Spaniards support the regulation of this right.
"It is a transversal demand of society", highlighted the Minister of Health, Salvador Illa, who highlighted the support obtained in the Chamber "over and above ideological differences", which proves, according to him, that Spain is a " democratic and mature society ”.
"We cannot remain impassive in the face of unbearable suffering," stressed the minister, for whom the law will contribute to "a more humane and just society."
Illa has had a special message for her predecessor in the ministry and now a deputy, María Luisa Carcedo, the main promoter of the initiative.
Congress had rejected in recent years four previous occasions to legislate on this issue.
By Ciudadanos has been its leader, Inés Arrimadas, who has taken the stand to defend her support for an initiative born from the left.
Arrimadas said that it is an "honor" to support a law that will directly influence people's lives and that he opposed the "sterile debates" in which Congress tends to get entangled.
"We are liberal and we are in favor of freedom," said the leader of Ciudadanos, who insisted that the law does not decriminalize suicide.
Arrimadas has asked opponents of the rule "not to caricature" its content.
The opposition has come from the parties of the right within the hemicycle and from a small group of a few dozen people who have gathered in front of Congress waving Spanish flags and showing the image of a skull.
The PP has notably lowered the tone with which it had been opposing the law and insisted that it would be unnecessary if palliative care were regulated.
This has not been the case of Vox, whose deputy Lourdes Méndez-Monasterio has even said that the norm will establish "the industry of death" in Spain.
Euthanasia supposes the "destruction of our culture", has sentenced the deputy, who has also regretted that the law is approved "when the world is going to celebrate the birth of the son of God."