Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Euthanasia in Mexico

A PRI assemblyman in Mexico City has proposed the legalization of euthanasia. I wonder as I read this if priístas and panistas in the capital tend to lean left the way Texas Democrats lean right. (I was going to write "New England Republicans lean left", but are there any of them left?) I guess it's hard to tell with the PRI because the party's ideology is as amorphous as a cloud of smoke, but it's notable that Humberto Moreira, governor of a conservative northern state, made himself known to Mexico by advocating the death penalty. Although Moreira also oversaw the legalization of gay marriage in his state, he just didn't build as much of his profile around the issue as he did with the death penalty. Furthermore, the tendency to tack toward your constituency is lessened by the absence of reelection.

2 comments:

Richard said...

Of course, the English word "euthanasia" is a semi-false cognate with what is meant in Spanish. While the word ALSO means the same thing we mean in English by "euthanasia", it also refers to discontinuing medical treatment... something not covered under present code. This is just a codification of the rights of survivors to discontinue futile medical treatment for the terminally ill.

pc said...

From what I saw the legislator made it seem as though it was for American-style euthanasia, or maybe that was just my expectation. So you can't pull the plug on someone in a vegetative state in Mexico?