Spain’s Constitutional Court has dismissed an appeal filed by the father of a 25-year-old paraplegic woman who opposes her access to euthanasia, the court said in a statement on Friday.
Spain became the fourth European Union country to legalise euthanasia and assisted suicide in 2021 for people suffering from incurable illnesses or severe, debilitating conditions who wish to end their lives. Government figures show that 426 people received assistance in dying in 2024.
Court rulings detail that the woman, who has a psychiatric illness, made several suicide attempts by overdosing on medication before jumping from a fifth-floor window in October 2022. The fall left her paraplegic and in constant pain.
In July 2024, a specialised expert committee in the Catalonia region approved her request for euthanasia. The procedure was scheduled to take place on 2 August 2024, but has been blocked since then following legal action by her father.
Medical case reports cited in the proceedings state that the woman suffers from severe, chronic and incapacitating pain resulting from her injuries, with no prospect of improvement.
Her father, backed by the ultra-conservative advocacy group Abogados Cristianos (‘Christian Lawyers’), argued that his daughter’s mental illness could affect her capacity to make a free and informed decision about ending her life.
Several lower courts ruled in favour of the woman, and on Friday the Constitutional Court – Spain’s highest judicial authority – concluded that no fundamental rights had been violated.
While public support for assisted dying in Spain is broad, the euthanasia law was passed after years of strong opposition from right-wing political parties and the Catholic Church, which has long influenced the country’s views on end-of-life matters.
Abogados Cristianos said on Friday that it would appeal the case to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).
‘We will not abandon these parents. We will continue to fight to the end to defend their right to save their daughter’s life,’ the group’s leader, Polonia Castellanos, said in a statement.
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🔴Llevamos el caso de Noelia al Tribunal de Estrasburgo.
— Abogados Cristianosﻦ (@AbogadosCrist) February 20, 2026
⚖️El Tribunal Constitucional rechaza nuestro recurso, pero el Penal de Barcelona aún se tiene que pronunciar sobre las medidas cautelares para que no se ejecute la eutanasia.
🙏Defenderemos su vida hasta el final. pic.twitter.com/Gx2CY0ZgdI
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