The Episcopal Commission for Life, the Laity and the Family of the Argentine Episcopal Conference today expressed its rejection of the bills that await treatment in the Chambers of Deputies and Senators to regulate the right of every person to request and receive the necessary help to die with dignity.
“Given the announcement of different Euthanasia bills promoted in both Chambers of the National Congress, from the Episcopal Commission for Life, the Laity and the Family we want to propose a reflection, since the Gospel commits us not to be indifferent to discussions about the beginning and end of life”said the religious institution in a statement.
What are the projects?
In the Chamber of Deputies there are two bills on euthanasia with parliamentary status for its treatment, but an agreement has not yet been reached to achieve a consensus initiative to be dealt with in the Health Commission, led by the socialist Mónica Fein, as a preliminary step to put it into consideration on the premises, parliamentary sources specified.
One of the initiatives is the so-called “Alfonso Law”, promoted by Gabriela Estévez from Córdoba and bearing the signatures of other legislators from the Frente de Todos such as Cecilia Moreau (now head of the Chamber of Deputies), Mónica Macha, Jimena López, Mara Brawer and Ana Carolina Gaillard. In the Senate, meanwhile, two other projects promoted by Mendoza’s Alfredo Cornejo and Julio Cobos, both of radicalism, have parliamentary status.
Both Deputy Estévez’s project in homage to Alfonso Oliva, a young man diagnosed with ALS in 2014 who fought for a law of this type and died in March 2019, and the rest of the initiatives awaiting treatment coincide in recognizing the right so that people who meet certain requirements can request and receive the necessary help to die with dignity.
What happens with the “dignified death” in Argentina?
Until now, in Argentina there has been Law No. 26,742 since 2012, known as the “Death with Dignity Law”, which regulates passive euthanasia, where death is promoted by the suspension of therapeutic procedures that kept the person alive. .
The current bills seek to “overcome” this law since “the testimonies of people who claim for their right to decide when to end their lives are often made public because they do not consider it a worthy life based on the pathologies they suffer from.”