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Montevideo: Uruguay on Wednesday legalized euthanasia, becoming one of the first countries in Latin America and among a dozen worldwide to allow assisted suicide.
The small South American country has a long history of passing socially liberal laws, legalizing marijuana, same-sex marriage and abortion long before most others.
On Wednesday, euthanasia was added to the list with the Senate approving the so-called “Dignified Death” bill.
Twenty out of 31 legislators present voted in favor, passing a law approved by the lower Chamber of Representatives in August.
The vote came after 10 hours of debate on an issue several lawmakers called “the most difficult.”
The discussion was largely respectful and often emotional, though some onlookers watching the debate cried out “murderers” after the vote passed.
“I feel relief and joy,” Florencia Salgueiro told AFP after celebrating in the gallery alongside other euthanasia advocates.
Salgueiro had witnessed her father’s struggle to receive assistance to end his life when ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, made his days unbearable. He died without fulfilling his wish.
Elsewhere in Latin America, courts in Colombia and Ecuador have decriminalized euthanasia without passing laws to legalize the practice, while Cuba allows for terminal patients to refuse being kept alive artificially.
Uruguay’s ruling party, leftist Frente Amplio, was behind the initiative, which was met with fierce opposition mainly from the religious right.
A recent poll showed more than 60 percent of Uruguayans support legal euthanasia, with only 24 percent opposed.
The law allows assisted suicide for adult Uruguayan citizens or residents who are mentally competent and in the terminal stage of an incurable disease that causes them suffering.
Beatriz Gelos, a 71-year-old Uruguayan who has battled neurodegenerative ALS for two decades, told AFP the law was “compassionate, very humane.”
In a wheelchair and speaking with a faltering voice, she said opponents “have no idea what it’s like to live like this.”
Another advocate is Monica Canepa, whose son Pablo, 39, has been paralyzed by an incurable disease.
“Pablo is not living. This is not life,” she told AFP.
Uruguay’s Medical Association has not taken a stance on euthanasia, allowing its doctor members to follow their own conscience.
The Catholic Church, for its part, has expressed “sadness” at the decision.

Antananarivo, Madagascar: Madagascar’s ousted president confirmed for the first time that he had fled the country, issuing a statement after a military-led power grab prompted by weeks of demonstrations that have plunged the island nation into crisis.
President Andry Rajoelina left between October 11 and 12 after “explicit and extremely serious threats were made against the life of the Head of State,” the presidency said in a statement late Wednesday.
The threats had come when he was due to travel abroad for a mission, the statement sent to AFP said.
Media reports indicated the 51-year-old leader was evacuated on Sunday aboard a French military plane.
On Monday, he said he had taken refuge in a “safe place” without giving further details.
Rajoelina, who first came to power after a military-backed coup in 2009, accused the National Assembly of colluding with the military to remove him from office.
The military officers who seized power said their leader, Col. Michael Randrianirina, would be sworn in as new president on Friday.
The youth-led Gen Z movement that initiated the protests on September 25 over lack of water and energy welcomed Randrianirina’s intervention.
The international community voiced alarm, with the United Nations censuring what it called an “unconstitutional” takeover and the African Union announcing Wednesday it was suspending Madagascar “with immediate effect.”
Madagascar is the latest of several former French colonies to have fallen under military control since 2020, after coups in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Gabon and Guinea.