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His
office said in a statement the president had enacted the
legislation "as he is obliged" to do so under the constitution.
Portugal becomes the sixth European Union country allowing the
procedure. Opinion polls have long been showing the majority of
Portuguese are in favour of the right to choose medically
assisted death over suffering.
In January 2021, a previous legislature passed the first bill
that would have legalised medically assisted death under certain
conditions, but Rebelo de Sousa vetoed it due to "excessively
undefined concepts".
As parliament kept approving slightly amended versions, the
president would send them back to the house or to the
Constitutional Court, usually citing doubts over wording, which
critics said were mere attempts to delay its introduction.
On Friday, the 250-seat parliament voted by 129-81, with one
abstention, to approve the bill without changes requested by
Rebelo de Sousa, effectively overturning his veto.
The centre-right main opposition Social Democratic Party has
said, however, it will appeal against the law with the
Constitutional Court.
The law specifies that people would be allowed to request
assistance in dying in cases when they are "in a situation of
intense suffering, with definitive injury of extreme gravity or
serious and incurable disease".
It establishes a two-month gap between accepting a request and
the actual procedure and makes psychological support mandatory.
Portugal spent a large part of the 20th century until the 1974
Carnation Revolution under fascist rule but has since
implemented many liberal reforms. It decriminalised drug use in
2001, legalised abortions in 2007 and allowed same-sex marriage
in 2010.
(Reporting by Andrei Khalip; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
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