Will Hungary allow assisted suicide?

Opposition parties on Thursday said they have submitted to parliament an amendment proposal aimed at “creating the freedom to make end-of-life decisions”.

Tímea Szabó, the co-leader of Párbeszéd, told a press conference that her party, Momentum and the Socialist Party have initiated an amendment to the Penal Code’s section on aiding and abetting suicide.

Under the opposition’s bill, individuals who assist in the end-of-life decision of a fully legally capable but terminally ill person whose “suffering is incompatible with human dignity” would not be criminally liable, Szabó said.

She said that whereas under the current law, an individual who participates in assisted suicide is criminally liable, if the opposition’s bill is passed, they would not be punishable either in Hungary or abroad.

Szabó said the parties had made sure to draft the law in a way that eliminates the possibility of abuse, and the terminally ill patient’s decision would have to be recorded in a notarial deed.

She expressed hope that the ruling parties would back the bill.

Rebeka Szabó, Párbeszéd’s other co-leader, noted that a terminally ill constitutional lawyer and his brother had submitted a referendum bid in the matter, but their question had been rejected by the National Election Committee, and they were now awaiting a ruling by the Kuria, Hungary’s supreme court.

She said public opinion polls showed that more than two-thirds of Hungarians support giving terminally ill people the freedom to decide to end their life.

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