Stockholm, March. 18(ChinaEurope) Spain approved a law permitting euthanasia on Thursday by a 202 to 141 vote in parliament, making it the fourth European Union country to do so, according to CNN report.

“Today, a majority of parliament has borne witness to people who are ill who have been clamoring for years for this right,” Socialist Party MP Maria Luisa Carcedo said during the final debate.

She cited the case of Ramon Sampedro, a paralyzed Spaniard who recorded his assisted suicide in 1998, a story later told in the Oscar-winning 2004 movie, “The Sea Inside.”

The other three countries which passed the law are Belgium, Luxemburg and the Netherlands. Portugal failed to pass the similar law recently.