MADRID, May 10 (Xinhua) -- The Spanish Congress on Thursday took the first stage towards decriminalizing euthanasia when lawmakers voted in favor of a bill to open a debate over whether euthanasia and assisted suicide should be made legal in the country.
Various media outlets, such as Spanish TV network RTVE and the El Pais newspaper, reported that the bill to reform the Spanish penal code was approved with 173 votes in favor, 136 against and with 32 abstentions.
It is the first time after 16 attempts that a bill to make euthanasia legal has been able to get past the first hurdle of the Spanish political system. The bill looks to modify part of Spain's penal code which forbids anyone helping another person to end their life.
Spain currently has a penalty of between 2 to 5 years in prison for anyone who cooperates in the "actions necessary for another person to commit suicide", and between 6 and 10 years in jail if that cooperation directly causes the death of whoever wants to commit suicide.
The new bill aims to allow helping cause the "reliable, peaceful, painless death" of someone who "specifically, freely and unequivocally" requests suicide.
The right wing People's Party of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy voted against the bill along with the right wing UPN, from the region of Navarre, while the center-right force Ciudadanos abstained, with the votes in favor coming from center-left, left wing and nationalist parties.
An inquest carried out by the research company Metroscopia in March 2017 showed that despite being nominally a catholic country, 84 percent of Spaniards were in favor of people with terminal illnesses being helped to die "painlessly", as is already permitted in countries such as Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg and Canada.
There is still a long way to go before the bill can become law, as it will have to progress through several stages. But Thursday's vote mans it will now be debated in a committee stage.
