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 The government expects to make Spain the fourth country in Europe to
decriminalize euthanasia and assisted suicide before its terms ends
in 2020.
Right now, helping someone end their life carries a jail term of up
to 10 years, and while there are still pockets of resistance in the
traditionally Catholic country to dispensing with that penalty, for
Lopez the debate is over.
The 49-year-old former businessman was diagnosed with amyotrophic
lateral sclerosis (ALS) just over a year ago. He can no longer walk
or move his right hand, the first stage of a degenerative process in
which sufferers lose the ability to speak, eat and finally breathe.
"It advances rapidly ... When a moment comes I want to have the
option of deciding whether the life as it is offered to me, is worth
it. And if it's not, I want to end it," Lopez told Reuters in a soft
voice, his speech slightly slurred.
The Catholic Church - long a lodestone for public opinion in Spain -
considers euthanasia to be morally wrong, and the main conservative
opposition People's Party (PP) also wants it to remain a criminal
offense.
But the church's influence has been on the wane ever since Francisco
Franco's dictatorship ended in 1975.
The most recent national opinion poll taken last year showed 84
percent support for euthanasia, and most parties other than the PP
have said they will back the minority Socialist government's
demineralization bill.
The previous Socialist administration demonstrated its liberal
credentials in 2005, when Spain became the third country in the
world to allow same-sex marriage.
'I DREAM I'M RIDING A BICYCLE'
Euthanasia has long grabbed public attention in Spain, which has the
world's second-highest life expectancy, and more notably so since
Oscar-winning Spanish film 'The Sea Inside'.
The 2004 film was based on the story of Ramon Sampedro, a paralyzed
man who for decades campaigned for the legal right to die. Courts
denied him that right but he committed assisted suicide nonetheless.
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This is set to change, but Lopez's hopes for the bill's quick
passage are mixed with concern that case-by-case evaluations it
proposes could be a hindrance when the time comes to decide.
He calls euthanasia "an intimate process", leaving a person free to
end a life that has become physically or psychologically unbearable,
and would not say how he would proceed if it remained illegal.
ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, destroys neural links
between the brain and the muscles. Most sufferers die within 3-5
years and it affects about 4,000 people in Spain.
A year ago, Lopez worked, played golf and cycled, seven months ago
he could still drive a car. Now he relies on an electric wheelchair
and his father, 78, helps him dress. Breathing problems have become
a torture, he says.
"In my head, I dream I'm riding a bicycle, going somewhere, but the
truth is I can't even go to the bathroom by myself," he told said at
his sister’s home outside Madrid where he moved after his diagnosis.
Lopez plays with his niece who likes to press buttons on his
wheelchair, exchanges jokes and small talk with his physical
therapist and doctors, and says he wants his family to see him
strong, "so they can move forward".
His 46-year-old sister Gema has not yet come to terms with the
brother's decision, but says his bravery must be respected.
"If he wants to go on his own terms, it will be done so, no matter
what anyone thinks or says," she said.
(Editing by Andrei Khalip and John Stonestreet)
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