Martínez’s fight to change Mexico’s euthanasia rules is getting wider attention as lawmakers consider possible policy shifts—and as her own health steadily worsens. The activist, now 31, has chronic kidney failure and says she expects only about five years left to live, according to her medical prognosis. She frames her campaign around the idea that people should have a legal path to end suffering, rather than be barred from the choice.
Her condition began when she was 17, with early signs of chronic kidney failure that led to chemotherapy, two kidney transplants, dialysis and frequent hospitalizations. Despite the illness, Martínez continues to work as an academic in her hometown of Chihuahua in northern Mexico and has met with politicians, hosted conferences and spoken to her online audience. She has also written about her experience, including sending letters to the illness she says has taken things away, and she has told followers that surviving it has given her resilience and purpose. “I would not have taken up this fight unless I had to endure what I’ve had to, so I’ve found in it my purpose,” Martínez said.
The legal obstacles she is challenging are laid out in multiple layers of Mexico’s laws. While the proposal she supports is framed as a reform of medical practice, current rules already define euthanasia as “mercy killing” under the General Health Law and prohibit it, along with assisted suicide. Under federal criminal law, assisting or inducing someone to take their own life carries penalties of one to five years in prison, and prosecutors can increase the penalty if the person directly causes the death. Those provisions are part of the broader framework Martínez says she wants changed.
At the same time, Martínez’s campaign is backed by politicians who introduced legislation in 2025. The initiative, described as the Transcendence Law, was presented by lawmakers from several political groups, including Morena, the party of President Claudia Sheinbaum. Supporters say it would remove the explicit ban and redefine euthanasia as a legal, voluntary medical procedure. The draft also frames euthanasia as a right linked to dignity and autonomy, arguing that life should not be treated as an obligation to prolong suffering.
Under the terms described by supporters, the proposal would allow adults to request the procedure, and it would include conscientious objection for health workers. The legislation, however, would require public institutions to provide staff willing to perform the procedure. Patricia Mercado, a longtime advocate for women’s reproductive and labor rights, has supported Martínez’s push and said that Martínez’s emergence makes passage more likely. “Samara’s emergence — her struggle, her authenticity — brings the possibility of passing legislation closer,” Mercado said. “A testimony speaks louder than a thousand data points.”
Religious debate has also remained central. Martínez said her experience has drawn some people into supportive conversations even as critics have flooded her with abusive messages online. Opponents of euthanasia in Mexico remain strongly represented among conservative and religious groups, and after the proposal was presented, the Catholic Church echoed Pope Leo’s call to uphold the sanctity of life. Rodrigo Iván Cortés, president of a conservative advocacy group, said his side views life as something that must be protected from the womb through old age, and that “For us, the value of life spans every stage.”
Still, Martínez has supporters among some religious leaders. Rev. Héctor Reyes collaborates with an organization called “For the Right to Die with Dignity,” which he said has defended euthanasia for nearly two decades. Reyes said the Transcendence Law connects with the God he believes in and argued that people should not remain “trapped in the image of a judgmental and punishing God.” He added: “For me, transcendence lies in the hope that life doesn’t end with physical death.”
Martínez has also described how her own thinking has evolved as her illness progressed. She has revisited letters she wrote years ago and said that reading them back shows her how her perspective changed. In one account from 2021, she said a doctor told her her kidneys could no longer function on their own, leaving two options: another transplant or treatment that performs the kidneys’ work, removing waste and excess fluid. At the time, she said she saw relying on that kind of treatment as unthinkable, but she now undergoes peritoneal dialysis every night, connected for hours to equipment she says is about the size of a printer that she must carry with her.
As her condition advances, Martínez has said she wants to retain control over end-of-life decisions. She has said she does not want to give up and described a wish to say goodbye by the sea. She also said she views that choice as her “most courageous” decision and described telling her parents that if she did not fight for euthanasia, no one else would.