Chile's lower house of parliament on Tuesday approved a bill that would allow euthanasia for adults, a major step in the largely Catholic, pro-life Latin America.

The bill still requires approval by the Senate.

Brought to parliament seven years ago by center-left opposition lawmakers, the bill would give terminal patients the right to decide how to end their life -- whether in palliative care or with euthanasia.

The right could only be invoked by people 18 or over with "an incurable, irreversible and progressive disease, with no possibility of response to curative treatments and with a limited lifespan," states the document unanimously approved on Tuesday.

The patient has to be conscious and in their right mind to demand the euthanasia, or have left a living will explicitly stating their desire previously.

Among South and Central American countries, Colombia is the only one where euthanasia has been decriminalized, since 1997.

In Mexico, a patient or family member can ask for life not to be prolonged by artificial means, while Uruguay's Congress has been discussing a euthanasia bill.

In February, a Peruvian court in a once-off ruling ordered the government to respect the wishes of a polio-stricken woman to be allowed to die.

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