News

By Matthew C. Hoffman

BOGOTA, September 23, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A new law that would allow euthanasia in Colombia has passed its first legislative hurdle with an 11-3 vote in favor in the Senate’s First Committee.

Although Colombia’s Supreme Court ruled in favor of euthanasia eleven years ago, it has never become available because no regulations exist to provide a legal framework for its provision.  Previous attempts to pass such regulations have failed.

Cardinal Perdo Rubiano Saenz, Archbishop of Bogota and Primate of Colombia, denounced the measure, saying, “I want to remind the faithful and all Colombians that an action that directly or intentionally causes the death of a person can never be morally licit.”
 
“Euthanasia is a crime, one committed by everyone who carries out a homicidal act. Government has been erected to defend life. As is affirmed in Article 11 of the Colombian Constitution: ‘the right to life is inviolable’,” said Saenz.

Despite its reputation as a “conservative” country, Colombia has led the way in Latin America in promoting abortion and euthanasia.  Its Supreme Court depenalized abortion in cases of rape and fetal deformity in 2006, overturning a long-standing law, and the administration of US-aligned president Alvaro Uribe has sought to force Catholic hospitals to perform the procedure (see LifeSiteNews coverage at: https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/may/08051201.html).

Should the legislation pass, active euthanasia through the administration of deadly drugs will be made available to all Colombians 18 years of age or older who suffer from a disease diagnosed as “incurable,” through a protocol called the “procedure of proper care,” and doctors who kill patients who request it will not be subject to any criminal penalties.

The new penal code will read in part: “When the presiding physician receives the free and informed consent of the patient, and has respected the procedure of proper care, required by the law that regulates the termination of life in a dignified and human way, and assisted suicide, he will not be subject to any penal sanction.”