Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Souza, a conservative, unveiled on Tuesday a law to decriminalize euthanasia, passed last week by parliament in Lisbon after a difficult legislative process, France-Presse and Agerpres news agencies reported.

The head of state “promulgated the decree (…) as he was obliged to do” according to the Constitution, according to the president’s statement published in the evening.

The final version of the law regulating “medically assisted death” was adopted last Friday by 129 votes from a total of 230 deputies, including from the ruling Socialist Party.

“The Constitution obliges the president to promulgate the law which he rejected and which was confirmed by the Assembly of the Republic. I will make it public, of course, it is my constitutional duty,” Rebelo de Souza said after the vote.

Over the past three years, the parliamentary majority has already spoken four times in favor of the decriminalization of assisted dying. But later the text ran into a warning from the Constitutional Court and the head of state, who is a Catholic.

To overcome the last presidential veto, the Socialists decided to vote for the same text a second time.

The text of the law was reformulated several times to take into account the comments of the Portuguese president, who objected twice by vetoing it, and after it was challenged, also twice, by the Constitutional Court, which specifically pointed out certain “inaccuracies”.

The final version of the law stipulates that euthanasia is allowed only in cases where “suicide with medical assistance is impossible due to the patient’s physical incapacity.”

According to estimates cited by local media, after the publication of implementing decrees, the law may enter into force in the fall.

Euthanasia and assisted suicide are currently allowed in several European countries, such as Benelux, which was the first to allow them, as well as neighboring Spain.