Spain adopts euthanasia law despite conservative opposition

MADRID (AP) — Lawmakers have voted to make Spain the sixth country in the world and the fourth in Europe to allow physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia. The Spanish parliament’s lower house voted 202-140 with two abstentions on Thursday to give the euthanasia bill final passage on Thursday. Legislators from Spain’s left-wing governing coalition and other parties supported it, while conservative and far-right lawmakers voted “no” and vowed to overturn the legislation in the future. The bill was three years in the making. The law is expected to go into effect in mid-June. Spain’s public health system will be called to provide life-ending assistance in justified cases for long-suffering patients of incurable diseases and people with unbearable permanent conditions.