November 2020
The legalization of euthanasia is incredibly evil. It transforms healers into killers. The expansion of euthanasia laws to permit killing sick children by lethal injection is yet another symptom of the culture of death’s profound influence on law and medicine throughout the world.
Belgium: This country extended euthanasia to children in February 2014 by eliminating the age limit for lethal injection. For more information: Alex Schadenberg, “Belgium euthanized 3 children aged 9, 11 and 17,” 8/8/2018.
The Netherlands: On October 13, 2020, the Dutch government approved euthanasia for terminally ill children aged 1 to 12. Currently it is legal for babies up to a year old to be killed with parental consent, and for children older than 12 to be euthanized with consent of both the patient and his or her parents. Until now, there has been no such proviso for children aged 1 to 12. Health Minister Hugo de Jonge said he would draft regulations for the practice. The new rules are expected to be implemented within the next few months. Source: “Netherlands backs euthanasia for terminally ill children under-12,” 10/14/2020, BBC News.
Canada: Will Canada be the next country to permit pediatric euthanasia? A paper published in the September 2018 Journal of Medical Ethics, titled “Medical Assistance in Dying at a pediatric hospital,” tested the water. This article addressed a proposal to implement euthanasia for children, a policy developed by a committee at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. The paper states it “is intended as a road map through the still-emerging legal and ethical landscape of paediatric MAID.” MAID stands for “medical assistance in dying” – a cleaned up name for killing vulnerable patients with (and sometimes without) their permission. Would a change in the law to permit euthanasia for “mature minors” allow Canadian children to die by euthanasia without the consent of their parents? For more information click here.
Professor Margaret Somerville taught medical law and ethics for nearly 40 years at McGill University in Canada. Professor Somerville predicts, “Canada is already considering whether to allow access to euthanasia to children, to people with serious mental illness but no physical illness, and to people with dementia through their advance directives. In light of the widespread normalization of euthanasia and the large number of people accessing it, I believe all of these expansions are likely to be allowed.” For more read “Patients Should Beware of Canada’s Euthanasia Philosophy.”
Could this Happen in the United States?
Belgium and the Netherlands bear the dubious distinction of being leaders when it comes to having the most liberal euthanasia laws in the world.
In an article titled “Netherlands backs euthanasia for terminally ill children under-12,” a doctor is quoted: “I don’t feel like I’m killing the patient.” He is pictured holding a lethal injection that ironically looks like a bullet.
The culture of death is spreading rapidly. Could killing people, even children, by lethal injection be legalized in the United States? When will people of every nation raise their voices and demand, “Stop! Enough! Never again!”?