The Urgency to Legalize Euthanasia in Mexico

On October 29, Samara Martínez presented the 'Ley Trasciende' bill in the Chamber of Deputies. In her voice, the right to die with dignity becomes an act of love and freedom, as profoundly human as the desire to live. With ten years of living with kidney failure and lupus, Martínez has turned her experience with illness into a social movement. 'The main obstacle is ideology, the attempt to impose personal beliefs on the rights of others,' she affirms. From this experience, she states that euthanasia is not surrender, but autonomy and dignity. The proposal, backed by more than 100,000 signatures, seeks to open a national debate on the right to die with dignity in a country where assisted death remains a taboo, crossed by religious beliefs and cultural prejudices. Martínez acknowledges that the legislative path is complex, especially due to the resistance of certain political sectors in Chihuahua and other entities. That reflection, born from vulnerability, has become a collective cause: to ensure that no one dies in undignified conditions. 'I know what it is to agonize in a hospital and rip the sheets from the pain,' she stated during the event. In this process, she highlights the support of DMD, an organization with over four decades of working for the legalization of euthanasia and palliative care. From personal struggle to collective change. The activist emphasizes that her cause is not about confronting faith, but about defending individual freedom over one's body and life. The initiative proposes to reform Article 166 of the General Health Law and amend the Federal Criminal Code, where euthanasia is still classified as 'homicide out of compassion'. The project establishes clear criteria for accessing the procedure: being over 18 years old, full mental capacity, and a diagnosis of an advanced chronic-degenerative, terminal, or disabling disease. 'This is not about gender or ideology, but about freedom,' she stressed, acknowledging that although the discussion on euthanasia shares roots with reproductive rights movements, its foundation is universal: self-determination. The #LeyTrasciende campaign has also raised awareness about the dimension of kidney disease in Mexico, where more than 13 million people may be living with the condition undiagnosed. Her message to those who fear talking about death is simple but powerful: 'We have to start talking, because we are all heading there; what changes is how we choose to traverse that path.' With hope and serenity, Samara Martínez affirms that her legacy will be to inspire others to speak, decide, and transcend. 'Dying by deciding about your own body empowers you, allowing you to maintain freedom until your last breath,' she noted. For Martínez, a 'good day' is defined by the absence of vomiting and pain, by the possibility of working and interacting with her family; a 'bad day,' on the other hand, means waking up between nausea and fatigue, when 'the illness weighs more than living.' Her story began with a video on TikTok where, from a hospital bed, she wondered why she couldn't disconnect from dialysis.