Euthanasia has come into effect in Spain, a few months after legislation was passed in March. 

The law decriminalises euthanasia for people with "serious and incurable" diseases, or "chronic or incapacitating" conditions that cause "intolerable suffering". 

It makes Spain the fourth country in Europe to legalise euthanasia, following in the footsteps of the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg.

Belgium and the Netherlands have allowed euthanasia since 2002, and both countries have widened the law in the following years to allow minors to die by euthanasia, as well as those with mental health conditions.

In Canada, where euthanasia is also legal, this manner of death rose by 17% in 2020, from 5,631 in 2019 to 7,595 last year, according to data shared by the country's deputy health minister Abby Hoffman.

The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) said a similar trend could be expected in Spain. 

A SPUC spokesperson said: "The legalisation of euthanasia in countries such as Spain marks a deadly trend that cheapens human life and increasingly turns to death as a substitute for care, compassion and love.

"Currently, Scotland is considering a highly inappropriate and dangerous assisted dying bill, which SPUC is resisting with the help of dedicated supporters.

"As we have seen around the world, wherever euthanasia is introduced, deaths surge year on year, as in the case of Canada, where assisted deaths rose by 17% in 2020.

"Last year, too, the chairman of a Dutch euthanasia clinic admitted that he expects the number of people killed by euthanasia in the Netherlands to double within the next eight years.

"We can expect to see the same terrible trend in Spain.

"Whatever other nations decide, SPUC continues to fight in the UK to ensure that we oppose every move to legalise euthanasia."