Noelia Castillo, 25, has struggled with psychiatric illness since she was young and tried to kill herself in October 2022
A Spanish woman who spent months fighting her father for the right to euthanasia after being sexually assaulted and becoming paraplegic is expected to end to her life on Thursday.
Noelia Castillo, 25, has struggled with psychiatric illness since she was a teenager and tried to kill herself in October 2022 after being sexually assaulted. The attempt left her in constant pain and using a wheelchair. Eighteen months later, she used Spain’s euthanasia law, which was introduced in 2021, to secure permission to end her life.
But her attempts to obtain euthanasia have been opposed by her father and by Christian Lawyers, an ultra‑conservative advocacy group that is supporting him. They have argued that Castillo’s psychiatric condition means she cannot make a properly informed decision about ending her life.
Earlier this month, after almost two years of legal challenges through regional and national Spanish courts, the European court of human rights rejected Castillo’s father’s request for euthanasia to be put on hold.
