Woman, 25, at Center of Euthanasia Fight Is Dead

A 25-year-old Spanish woman whose battle to end her life sparked a national debate over euthanasia has died through assisted dying in Catalonia. Noelia Castillo, left paraplegic and in chronic pain after a 2022 suicide attempt following a reported sexual assault, used Spain's 2021 euthanasia law to request an assisted death, a move fiercely opposed by her father and an ultra-conservative legal group, Christian Lawyers, per the Guardian. They argued that her long-standing psychiatric conditions meant she lacked full decision-making capacity.

CNN details what it calls Castillo's "life of suffering," starting with a "turbulent home life" that included her parents splitting up when she was a young teen; a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder; and three different sex-abuse incidents, including one involving a former partner. The news outlet notes Castillo never went to the police about the incidents, and after a 2022 suicide attempt after one of them, the young woman was left paralyzed and reliant on a wheelchair.

After nearly two years of legal wrangling in Spanish courts, the European Court of Human Rights this month rebuffed her father's last-ditch bid to halt the assisted-death procedure, clearing the way for Castillo's death on Thursday at a medical site in Sant Pere de Ribes, near Barcelona, per the Guardian. In a TV interview recorded days earlier, Castillo said she simply wanted to "go peacefully" and insisted her decision was hers alone, stressing she didn't want to be a model for others. She added, per the AP: "I just cannot go on anymore."

She also noted, "I can't take this family anymore," with El Pais reporting that her mother and sister joined her father in objecting to her assisted-death quest. Her case has renewed scrutiny of Spain's euthanasia framework, under which at least 1,100 people have had assisted deaths since mid-2021, and sharpened criticism from opponents who are calling for the law's repeal. "Noelia's case [has] moved the entire world," Christian Lawyers said in a statement on social media. "The euthanasia law must be abolished. Every life should be defended, not abandoned." If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 or visit 988lifeline.org.