MADRID, Spain, March 19, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — Spain passed a euthanasia bill into law on Thursday. The law will take effect in three months, making Spain one of a handful of countries in Europe to regulate euthanasia within its borders.
The bill was introduced in 2018 by Spain’s Socialist Party (PSOE), but was pushed back by conservatives. However, a recent shift in Spain’s government has put the PSOE into the governing majority, headed by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez in coalition with another leftist party, Unidas Podemos. The coalition, with the help of smaller parties, was able to get enough votes in the Congress of Deputies, the lower house of Spain’s legislative body. The euthanasia bill was approved on March 18 with 202 votes in favor, 141 against it, and two abstentions.
The conservative Popular Party (PP) and the pro-life party, Vox, opposed it. Vox took to twitter to condemn the death agenda pushed by the socialist and leftist parties. “The PSOE is not satisfied with the 100,000 deaths it has left in its wake,” said Santiago Abascal, leader of Vox, in reference to those killed by COVID-19. Vox has vowed to appeal the law.
Francisco José Contreras, Congressman (VOX Party) and Professor of Philosophy of Law at the Universidad de Sevilla told LifeSiteNews: “This represents a new and vicious attack against the sanctity of life, following the legalization and social acceptance of abortion. Spain will presumably slide down the ‘slippery slope’ other countries like the Netherlands and Belgium have done. My party has solemnly committed to repelling the new euthanasia law when it enters Government.”
MP Lourdes Monasterio has also promised that her party is going to issue an appeal to the Constitutional Court requesting suspension of the regulations.
“Life cannot be at the disposal of the public powers. Today we say goodbye to more than twenty centuries of pro-life culture and goodbye to modern constitutionalism … it is the failure of a civilization,” Monasterio said.
The law sets out steps for those who apply for euthanasia or assisted suicide. A formal request must be made in writing two times over the span of two weeks, and a person must “suffer a serious or incurable disease or a serious, chronic and incapacitating condition,” which causes them “intolerable suffering.” The patient must also “express their clear will to end their life, and they must have been supplied with information about their medical condition and the alternatives that are available to them.”
“Once the second request has been made, the patient’s doctor must pass the request on to the corresponding regional commission, which will appoint two professionals with no connection to the case for its analysis. The commission will then approve or reject the decision reached by these two specialists. The [request] … will be determined by each region, apart from it having at least seven people and including medical, legal, and nursing experts. The commission has 19 days to reply to a request,” reports El País.
When the bill was first debated in 2018, PP spokesperson Pilar Cortés shared concerns that, “given time, exceptional situations will turn into habitual situations,” because it will be seen as “a cheaper solution” than palliative care. Cortés shared that in the Netherlands, where euthanasia has been legal since 2001, there are around 1,000 cases of involuntary euthanasia per year.
Several cases of euthanasia and assisted suicide have grabbed the attention of the public in Spain over the last two decades and were used for garnering emotional support for legislation. One case, in the Spring of 2019, involved a man named Ángel Hernández from Madrid who turned himself into the police after confessing to giving his partner, María José Carrasco, a lethal dose of sodium pentobarbital. Carrasco had been suffering from multiple sclerosis. Hernández is awaiting trial.
The so-called 'Equality Act' contains deadly poison for Christian democracy in the United States. And, its harmless-sounding name tries to hide this insidious reality.
But, unfortunately, Pelosi and company have JUST PASSED this morally repugnant bill in the US House of Representatives.
Pro-life and pro-family organizations, as well as Christian churches and the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, and freedom-loving groups everywhere, are now sounding the alarm.
Wake up, America, this is RED ALERT time!
This petition, therefore, calls on every US Senator to vigorously oppose and reject this bill.
Yes, it's THAT important.
The bill has nothing to do with "equality," or with extending the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which is how it is being touted by the leftists in the mainstream media.
It is, rather, one of the MOST EXTREME anti-life, pro-LGBT indoctrination bills ever proposed.
It has been described as a short-list of the worst possible elements of the Radical Left's agenda in Congress...and, REMEMBER, it has just passed the House!
We need to tell all US Senators, in no uncertain terms, that WE WILL NOT ACCEPT this outrageous attack on our freedoms and on life, itself!
SIGN AND SHARE THIS URGENT PETITION, TODAY!
And, after you have signed this petition, please CLICK HERE to DIRECTLY CONTACT YOUR U.S. SENATORS, and tell them to oppose this assault on our freedoms of thought, speech, conscience and religion.
Thank you!
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Below are some of the devastating critiques of 'Equality Act,' leveled by some of the best conservative, Christian minds in the country.
ON LIFE:
Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council (FRC), has written that the 'Equality Act' will include, "the largest expansion of taxpayer-funded abortion this country has ever seen.”
"Under this big new umbrella of 'discrimination,'" continued Perkins, "any American who doesn’t want to fund, offer, perform, or participate in abortion on demand will have no real choice. They can conform — or they can be punished."
"Every wall that’s been built between abortion and the government would come crashing down, including the Hyde Amendment, the pro-conscience Weldon Amendment, and several international barriers that keep our country from exporting abortion."
ON CHRISTIANITY, RELIGIOUS FREEDOM and LGBT INDOCTRINATION:
Lloyd Marcus, of the American Thinker publication, has written about the 'Equality Act' in the following terms:
"LGBTQ enforcer and homosexual Democrat congressman David Cicilline is sponsor of the Equality Act. Cicilline's evil bill is the most aggressive assault on our constitutional religious liberties in U.S. history...If the Equality Act becomes the law of the land, every outrageous, tyrannical demand [of LGBTQ activists/enforcers] will become reality."
And, Liberty Counsel Action, a law and policy education, training and advocacy organization which, among other things, advances religious freedom, the sanctity of human life, and the family has extensively criticized the 'Equality Act'.
On their webpage, dedicated to analyzing the 'Equality Act', which you can access below, Liberty Counsel Action state: "The 'Equality' Act' elevates 'sexual orientation and gender identity' to the same protected category as race. It will violate the religious freedom of Americans in numerous ways."
The go on to list the areas of life which this will affect: "It will impact all employers, including religious and non-profit organizations; contractors; houses of worship; public, private, and religious schools; curriculum; bathrooms; sports; daycare providers; shelters; hospitals; places of gatherings; entertainment providers; counselors; foster care and adoption; biological parents; landlords; anywhere providing a “good, service, or program,” including those advertised online; transportation drivers; and all local, state, and federal entities and many other areas."
And, as they note: "[T]here is NO RELIGIOUS EXEMPTION to this bill!"
Taking into account all of these potential threats to Christian democracy, Life and religious freedom, it is easy to see how the so-called 'Equality Act' has been called a "poison pill."
It is imperative that the US Senate vigorously reject this bill, AND EXPOSE IT FOR WHAT IT REALLY IS.
Please SIGN this urgent petition, TODAY!
The following links will take you to more information about the 'Equality Act'
The House version of the so-called 'Equality Act' (HR 5): http://lc.org/PDFs/Attachments2PRsLAs/2019/031819EqualityActHR5.pdf
Liberty Counsel Action's full analysis of the so-called 'Equality Act': https://www.lcaction.org/HR5 and https://lc.org/newsroom/details/022421-equality-act-guts-religious-freedom-1
LifeSiteNews opinion and analysis of the so-called 'Equality Act':
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/breaking-us-house-passes-pro-abortion-equality-act
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/biden-names-pro-lgbt-equality-act-as-top-priority-if-elected
An earlier case involved a paralyzed man named Ramon Sampedro who recorded his assisted suicide in 1998. His story was later made into a movie called “The Sea Inside” and won an Oscar.
Despite emotional appeals to the public, there are still many who oppose prematurely-induced death under the guise of compassion. According to Euronews, about a hundred people gathered outside Parliament against “the government of death” with banners to protest the legislation. “The Spanish Catholic Church has vehemently condemned the reform, comparing euthanasia to ‘a form of homicide.’”
Bishop Luis Javier Argüello Garcia, auxiliary bishop of Valladolid and secretary general of the Spanish Bishops’ Conference, responded to the new law, saying, “This is the time to promote conscientious objection to this law and to promote a culture of life, which should have a clear line in the sand stating ‘You shall not kill.’”
Garcia is reminding doctors “not to induce death to alleviate suffering,” but instead to treat the patient with “tenderness, closeness, mercy, encouragement, and hope for those people who are in the final stage of their existence …,” according to Catholic World Report. He also warned against a defeatist attitude, encouraging Catholics “to promote a culture of life and to take concrete steps to promote a living will or advance declarations that make it possible for Spanish citizens to express in a clear and determined way their desire to receive palliative care,” as opposed to assisted suicide or euthanasia.