Dutch Parents Can Now Euthanize Their Children under New Laws

The Dutch government has updated its “voluntary death” laws to allow parents to euthanize their children.

If the child is aged between 1 and 12 years old and meets certain criteria, parents can now put them forward for “assisted suicide.”

The updated law states that the only qualification is that the child must be terminally ill and be suffering.

The law was updated after the Dutch government tweaked its Euthanasia Act so that children are covered for the first time, The Telegraph reported.

“Under the change, euthanasia – legal, voluntary death carried out by a doctor – will only be an option for children who are suffering unbearably with no hope of improvement and for whom palliative care cannot bring relief,” the report explained.

Health minister Ernst Kuipers said the death procedure now is available for “children who are so ill that death is unavoidable and they are expected to die soon.”

The government said it expects the process will be used on up to 10 children a year.

The government argues that euthanasia is different from suicide as it is seen as a medical procedure.

The idea of expanding the laws to children was widely supported by physicians in the Netherlands, according to WND.

But fierce opposition was coming from two Christian parties in the ruling Dutch coalition, the report said.

Kuipers said the change is “a solution that will help these incurably ill children, their parents, and also their doctors.”

Belgium, a neighbor, approved doctor-assisted death for children of all ages a few years ago.

As Slay News reported, Belgium has already killed over 27,000 people with euthanasia so far.

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Last year in the Netherlands, 8,720 people were killed by euthanasia.

Since it first was adopted by the Dutch government in 2002, more than 91,000 have died by the procedure.

A report from the Christian Institute in the U.K. said Kevin Yuill, of the group Humanists Against Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia, said the numbers are alarming.

“Euthanasia is increasingly seen as a solution for social rather than medical problems,” he explained.

“What we are increasingly seeing is death, ironically, as a ‘lifestyle choice’ for those who are frightened of living.

“This is worrying, to say the least.”

The report explained:

Last month, Lord Carlile of Berriew KC, philosopher Baroness O’Neill of Bengarve and former Supreme Court judge Lord Jonathan Sumption highlighted the serious flaws in pro-assisted suicide rhetoric in their forewords to a Policy Exchange report.

The experts were writing in support of ethicist Prof John Keown’s critique of the case made by Peers in favour of Baroness Meacher’s failed assisted suicide Bill in the 2021 House of Lords debate.

Lord Sumption pointed to the glaring inconsistency at the heart of the pro-assisted suicide cause: “What is the justification for allowing medically assisted suicide but limiting it to those believed to be close to death or in intolerable pain, actual or prospective?

“There are so many other reasons why one might want to end one’s life.

“Once the moral barrier has been crossed, what is the logical stopping point?”

READ MORE: Canada Advances Plan to Euthanize Children Without Parental Consent

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By Frank Bergman

Frank Bergman is a political/economic journalist living on the east coast. Aside from news reporting, Bergman also conducts interviews with researchers and material experts and investigates influential individuals and organizations in the sociopolitical world.

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