Uruguay Becomes the First Latin American Country to Allow Euthanasia Through Legislation

This story  originally appeared on Global Voices on October 24, 2025.

Uruguay was the first Latin American country to grant women the right to vote, and a pioneer in approving a divorce law, while also allowing women to obtain a divorce independently. In the early 2010s, the country made history and headlines for decriminalizing marijuana, allowing women’s right to abortion, and same-sex marriage, subjects that remained taboo for most of its neighbors. This October 15, the South American nation with a population of almost 3.5 million, reached another historic milestone: it became the first Latin American country to pass a law allowing euthanasia.

The bill was approved by the Senate with 2o votes in favour out of 31. Two months ago, it passed through the lower house of the parliament with 66 votes in favor out of 99. It is now awaiting final approval from President Yamandu Orsi. Vice-President Carolina Cosse, who also serves as the parliament’s president, congratulated the politicians on the voting.

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The bill voted allows access to the procedure for mentally capable adults suffering from one or more chronic, incurable, and irreversible diseases that lead to suffering and affect their quality of life.

President Orsi stated that he has not considered vetoing the law, adding: “But these are issues we must always be willing to pursue and keep improving, which is the issue of human dignity above all things.” La Diaria reported that government officials stated health and legal teams will work on regulating the law as soon as possible, as there are individuals who could already benefit from it.

Once the law becomes effective, Uruguay will be the fourth country in the region to decriminalize euthanasia, but the first one to grant it as a right via legislation. 

Colombia decriminalized euthanasia in 1997 and regulated it in 2015. It started with the request of a terminal patient to have assisted death to the Constitutional Court, the BBC explains. In Cuba, it was quietly included in the country’s universal healthcare system framework in 2023, according to Reuters. Last year, Ecuador also decriminalized the practice following a court ruling that established a legal framework and regulations for future cases.

The Dignified Death discussion

The discussion around the “Muerte Digna” bill (Dignified Death) went on for five years in Uruguay. The first proposal to decriminalize euthanasia was presented in March 2020 by then legislator Ope Pasquet, of the centre-right Colorado Party. Despite being approved in the lower chamber in 2022, the bill stalled in the senate. This year, after the leftist coalition Frente Amplio (FA) returned to the presidency, a proposal combining elements from the 2020 proposal and another one by FA legislators from 2021 was reintroduced and submitted to a vote again, according to El País newspaper.

Pasquet, now a former deputy, returned to parliament to vote for the project, thanks to a seat temporarily ceded by Robert Silva, a senator from his party. As published by Montevideo Portal, he talked about cases of people who waited for the law during this time, and stated:

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Among the 11 senators who voted against it, Martin Lema, of the National Party (center-right), claimed the bill had “voids, vices and contradictions, lack of clinical and legal guarantees, infringing constitutional aspects.” Senator Gustavo Zubia, of the Colorado party, posted on his X (former Twitter) account that he didn’t vote on the bill, as it did not establish more control.

Uruguay is a secular country with a separation of church and state. So much so that in 1919, a law abolished all religious holidays from its official calendar; Christmas, for instance, is celebrated as Family Day. Still, Catholic Church representatives issued a statement saying they worry “the law could promote a death culture.”

Granting choice

This October 15, when the Senate approved the bill, it would have been Pablo Salgueiro’s 62nd birthday. Salgueiro died in 2020 from Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a degenerative disease that had also affected other people in his family before. His daughters, Florencia and Sofia, are among the relatives in favor of decriminalizing euthanasia.

In 2021, Florencia published a thread on her X profile where she recounted that, although her father was lucid until his last days, ALS limited his body's ability to respond. So, one February night, she heard from him, “This isn't a life anymore,” that “he didn’t want to keep on living” and “he wanted to die.” She wrote: “I hope none of you find yourselves in a situation of hearing these words, knowing they are true, and that there is NOTHING you can do about it.”

Florencia, who is a member of Empatia Uruguay (Uruguay Empathy), a group of Uruguayans who support the choice for euthanasia becoming a law, told Subrayado news outlet that she was honored by the voting that put the country back on a pioneer trail:

In a thread where she commented on each senator’s votes, her final post left a question: “Who are we to tell someone who is ill how much suffering is enough? The moment for voting is approaching.”

[VP]

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