The Netherlands, one of the most pro-euthanasia countries in the world, is set to legalize euthanasia for children of all ages, further expanding its already extensive program.
NTD News reported which the Dutch government has announced plan to expand euthanasia to children between one and 12 years old. Currently, children older than 12 or younger than one are eligible to be euthanized; today, children of all ages will be allowed to die by euthanasia.
“It’s a very complicated topic dealing with scary situations that you wouldn’t wish on anyone,” said Dutch Health Minister Ernst Kuipers, according to NTD News. “I am pleased that after intensive consultation with all involved parties, we have reached a solution where we can help these terminally ill children, their parents and also their practitioners.”
The only children eligible are terminally ill children, for whom palliative care does not bring relief. However, parents and doctors can make a decision together, if the child “does not consent.”
The program involving infants, now to be expanded, is called Groningen Protocol. Enacted in 2004, it allows infant euthanasia if parents and doctors agree, and if the infant is experiencing current suffering that is expected to be experienced. tomorrow suffering As Wesley J. Smith previously explainedwhen the Netherlands began to consider expanding its euthanasia protocol:
There is no reason to think that the “sickly sick” limit will last long, let alone unenforceable. After all, babies in the Netherlands are euthanized under the Groningen Protocol, both because of terminal illness and serious disability.
Children are then subjected to terminal sedation — that is, placed in an artificial coma and dehydrated to death.
Currently, the Netherlands is already seeing records of deaths from euthanasia. There was a 14% increase in euthanasia deaths from 2021 to 2022, with 8,720 people euthanized last year. An increasing number of couples were allowed to be euthanized together, and 115 people were killed due to psychiatric illness alone.
Considering that the Netherlands seems eager to increasingly accept euthanasia, it is not surprising that the percentage of deaths consisting of people killed by their doctors is also increasing. Rather than seeing it as a tragedy to be avoided, this increase in euthanasia deaths has been celebrated by Dutch politicians.
