New Zealand is to hold a referendum on legalising euthanasia.
The country's parliament passed a bill on Wednesday that would legalise terminally ill people requesting a medically assisted death.
But the fate of the bill rests in the hands of New Zealanders, who will vote in a referendum at the next general election, which must be held by November next year.
Under the bill, the patient must be in irreversible physical decline and be the first to suggest assisted dying.
Two doctors must agree that the patient is well-informed and other legal criteria are met.
Euthanasia legislation has been the subject of years of heated debate in New Zealand. The lawmaker behind the bill, David Seymour, of the libertarian ACT Party, today said: "It makes me proud of our country that we can have this debate, and we can actually get progress, and become a more free and compassionate society."
But opposition National Party lawmaker Maggie Barry called it a "dangerous and permissive bill" and said it was important to stop it through the referendum.
Countries that have legalised euthanasia include Canada, the Netherlands, Switzerland, as well as some US states.
