Canada’s Parliament has legalised euthanasia for terminally ill individuals, in a landmark move for the country.
The law was drafted last year but has gone through months of wrangling, as the court tried to decide who should be included under it.
In the end, it was decided only those facing terminal illness and imminent death would be covered by the law, excluding those with degenerative conditions such as Multiple Sclerosis (MS).
Canada is only the fifth country in the world to legalise voluntary euthanasia, following Colombia, The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg.
Five American states have also given their residents the right to die, including Oregon, California, Washington and Vermont.
Related: Sex abuse victim granted euthanasia via lethal injection
Canada has followed Colombia, The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg to legalise assisted dying
You took our poll in May
Here in New Zealand, there have been 22,000 submissions on a petition to legalise euthanasia, something which had been described as proving the strong public desire for MPs to tackle the issue.
To put this in perspective, there were 21,500 submissions on the petition to legalise gay marriage in 2012.
In May, we asked Women’s Weekly readers if they would support the legalisation of euthanasia. 225 of you said it was the humane thing to do, while 41 disagreed, saying it could easily be abused.
Take the poll below and tell us what you think.
