Wed 16 February 2022:
On Tuesday, the Italian Constitutional Court denied a request for a vote on the right to die, despite the fact that the initiative’s supporters had gathered more than a million signatures.
Right-to-die advocates in Italy have been attempting to force a vote on the controversial topic in the mostly Catholic country, despite strong resistance.
They seek to at least partially repeal sanctions against people who assist in the suicide of patients suffering from incurable illnesses or intolerable pain and who have already received palliative care.
The Constitutional Court, however, said that repealing punishments would not safeguard the minimum constitutional standards governing the protection of human life, “particularly for the weak and vulnerable.”
“The Constitutional Court’s decision must push parliament to approve the law on assisted suicide,” Enrico Letta, leader of the centre-left Democratic Party (PD), wrote on Twitter.
La bocciatura da parte della Corte Costituzionale del referendum sull’ #eutanasialegale deve ora spingere il Parlamento ad approvare la legge sul #suicidioassistito, secondo le indicazioni della Corte stessa.
— Enrico Letta (@EnricoLetta) February 15, 2022
With the agreement of local health authorities and an ethics commission, the court decriminalized assisted suicide under specified conditions in 2019. Nonetheless, it was suggested that parliament establish legislation to regulate the practice.
Among the leading advocates of a referendum is Marco Cappato, who said the court’s decision was “bad news for those who suffer and will have to (face) even longer unbearable suffering against their will”.
Last year, proponents of the right to die gathered more than twice the required 500,000 signatures for a vote to pass.
The country’s parliament is debating a legislation that would allow terminally ill patients to commit suicide through the public health system and protect doctors from legal action.
The issue has polarized political parties, with the center-left typically supporting it and the center-right largely opposing it. The pope recently opposed assisted suicide, saying it violates medical ethics.
According to a 2019 poll conducted by the SWG research organization, 92 percent of Italians support assisted suicide and euthanasia. Around 45% indicated they were in favor of it in general, while 47% said they were in favor in some situations.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
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