Uruguay’s lower House passes euthanasia bill, which now heads to Senate

ACI Prensa Staff, Aug 13, 2025 / 15:19 pm (CNA).

After a lengthy session in Uruguay’s Chamber of Representatives, legislators passed a bill this week that, if passed in the Senate, would legalize euthanasia in the country, making it the third in South America to permit the practice.

Introduced by the Broad Front political coalition at the beginning of the year and approved in July by the lower House’s Committee on Health, the bill will now move to the Senate for consideration. It passed by a margin of 64-29 in a plenary session of the Chamber of Representatives on Aug. 12.

Nearly the entire ruling party bloc as well as members of the opposition voted for the bill, which states that any person over 18 years of age “who suffers from one or more chronic, incurable, and irreversible pathologies or health conditions that seriously impair their quality of life, causing unbearable suffering” may request assisted death.

If approved, Uruguay would become the third country in South America to permit the practice, along with Colombia and Ecuador.

The Catholic Church in Uruguay has spoken out against the bill on numerous occasions. In early August, the prelates of the Episcopal Conference of Uruguay posted a video message calling for a “firm no” to the bill because “causing the death of a patient is ethically unacceptable.”

The bishops emphasized that “the dignity of every person is an absolute, inalienable gift that is never lost” and that “for God, every life is infinitely loved and worthy of all our care.”

“Our society must welcome, protect, and accompany every person until the end of their earthly life,” they affirmed, emphasizing the urgency of “implementing the palliative care law so that no Uruguayan suffers unnecessarily.”

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.