PARLIAMENT VOTES TO LEGALIZE EUTHANASIA

Portugal's parliament voted on Friday to legalize euthanasia, setting the country up to become the seventh in the world to allow the practice.

People over 18 will be allowed to request assistance in dying if they are terminally ill and suffering from “lasting” and “unbearable” pain — unless they are deemed not to be mentally fit to make such a decision.

The process will be open only to national citizens and legal residents, to prevent people from travelling to Portugal for euthanasia.

President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, shown, has 20 days to give it a final stamp of approval. The majority-Catholic nation legalized abortion in 2007 and same-sex marriage in 2010.