Euthanasia advances in Spain while abortion is consolidated

Spain is currently suffering two setbacks with respect to the culture of life: The Government is proposing to extend euthanasia to mental illnesses, while the Constitutional Court supports abortion for minors from the age of 16 without parental knowledge.

As detailed Medical Journalthe Ministry of Health of the Government of Spain is going to modify the Manual of Good Euthanasia Practices to include mental illnesses.

The draft of the planned modification states that the Organic Law for the Regulation of Euthanasia (LORE) “does not exclude mental illness, allowing people with an unbearable suffering due to the presence of a mental illness to request the PAM (benefit of aid in dying) on ​​equal terms with those whose suffering comes from a somatic illness.”

Consequently, the Government would be contemplating the application of caused death for people with autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), schizophrenia or bipolarity.

On the other hand, the Constitutional Court (TC) has supported that minors from the age of 16 can decide to submit their unborn child without the knowledge and permission of the parents.

This has been reported by VOX, a political group that had filed an appeal for unconstitutionality against the last modification of the abortion law made in February 2023.

This legal change, in addition to allowing minors to make a decision of this magnitude without the company of their parents or legal guardians, establishes other measures contrary to the culture of life.

Among others, the elimination of a three-day reflection period and the elimination of the obligation to provide complete information, which could include ultrasounds and alternatives to abortion and the methods used for this purpose, as well as their risks.

Furthermore, the legal modification now supported by the TC determines the deletion of the abortion from the medical record after 5 years.

VOX believes that this resolution affects “millions of young people who are left helpless at a time when they are most vulnerable.” In his opinion, it is “a decision against the value of human life” that delves “into the configuration of a society without a culture of life and that represents another attack on the family, parental authority and duty and right of parents to ensure the well-being of their children,” as detailed in statements sent to the media.

Also in February 2023, the TC dismissed another appeal against the abortion law approved in 2010. This was a decision surrounded by controversy due to accusations of lack of impartiality on the part of the magistrates since at least 4 of them had intervened in the legislative process. of the appealed rule.

Due to this, the Christian Lawyers Foundation filed a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights for prevarication against the president of the TC, Cándido Conde-Pumpido.