Belgian Lawmakers Legalize Euthanasia for Children

“Lawmakers in Belgium recently approved a measure that will allow doctors to euthanize children of all ages. As previously reported, the Belgian Senate overwhelmingly approved a child euthanization bill in December, sending it to the lower legislative house. This month, the lower house voted 86-44 in favor of the measure, despite some international criticism. Belgium’s King Philippe is expected to sign the bill into law. Once the new measure is enacted, terminally ill children will have the option to end their lives via lethal injection. As long as children understand what euthanasia is and have approval from parents and doctors, they will be free to choose assisted suicide. Belgium, a predominantly secular country, first sanctioned euthanasia for adults in 2002. Now, the small European nation will become only the second country in the world--along with the Netherlands--to allow child euthanization. ... American businessman and former presidential candidate Steve Forbes likewise expressed concern about the Belgian measure, opining that it exemplifies the ‘slippery slope’ of euthanasia. ‘We are on the malignantly slippery slope to becoming a society like that envisioned by Nazi Germany, one in which “undesirables” are disposed of like used tissue,’ Forbes wrote in a recent column. ‘The Holocaust and other Nazi atrocities sidetracked the eugenics movement. But now it’s making a comeback in new garb--we want to kill only to reduce suffering. As euthanasia becomes more accepted--and we become more numb to the horror of murdering people like this--we’ll descend to the next abomination: pressuring the sick to discontinue treatment for a likely fatal illness in the name of “saving scarce resources” for people who have more years ahead of them,’ he suggested. ‘The true mark of a civilization is in how it treats its most vulnerable members,’ Forbes concluded.”

(“What’s the Use of Keeping This Baby Alive?” Christian News Network, Feb. 23, 2014)

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