On October 9, Dutch Duputy Prime Minister and Minister of Health, Hugo de Jonge (who is also leader of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party) of Christian Democrats (CDA), floated the idea of a “grey area” wherein the decision to euthanize (terminal) children between 1 and 12 years of age might be made. Euthanasia is already legal in the Netherlands for children under one year of age, with the consent of their parents, and for children 12-15 years of age with their parents’ consent. Voluntary euthanasia is allowed for those who are 16-17 years old without parental consent. On the following Tuesday, October 13, De Jonge stated more firmly that that termination of life should (and likely would) be made possible for “a small group of children who are sick and hopeless and suffer in an unbearable way and without any prospect of improvement.”
Incredibly, the Minister also said that the State attaches “great importance to the best possible care for this group of terminally-ill children,” while maintaining that his proposal serves the best interests of children! Our friend G.K. Chesterton [who wrote a book entitled “Eugenics and Other Evils”] might have wryly observed, ‘the State wants to treat them so well that instead of giving them medicine, it cuts off their little heads.’
For the children mentioned in the new policy, physicians will be allowed to provide permanent sedation and to suspend feeding for an extended period of time until the death of the patient. Children who are beautiful and asleep, like in fairy tales—but left to die of hunger and thirst by order of the state. There is nothing humane or civil in Holland! Dutch doctors are perplexed about the proposal; they want to know exactly what to do and have asked for precise regulations. They do not want to end up in court because of the ambiguities of the laws. They are concerned about their work, not the death of innocent children. There is nothing Hippocratic about this.
It is likely that the majority of Parliament is willing to support the extension of access to “assistance in dying” to the age group; however, the proposal is not supported by all political forces in the Government of Prime Minister Rutte. Part of De Jonge’s own CDA, together with another party (ChristenUnie (CU) or the “Christian Union”) oppose the proposal. And last month, Cardinal Willem Eijk of Utrecht strongly denounced the abyss into which Holland was falling, increasingly authorizing euthanasia.
All the Left, however—Democrats, Liberals and Greens—do support the ‘merciful’ proposal to eliminate children. They do not want to eliminate the suffering of children; they want to kill children to eliminate suffering. It is a barbarism even above the decision of the Dutch Supreme Court last April authorizing euthanasia for anyone with Alzheimer’s disease and any elderly patient who has turned 75 years of age.
The news has gone around the world, but it has not stopped of stopping the crazy race of Socialist, Liberal and Left governments globally towards legal euthanasia. In the coming days, in New Zealand, a referendum will be voted upon in order to authorize euthanasia for all people in any circumstance! Meanwhile, in Spain and Ireland, the same socialist and populist parties are trying legalize euthanasia. The ‘Pandora’s Box’ of eugenics has been reopened, just as a hundred years ago: now barbarism seeks to reign everywhere, mocking human dignity. But there will be Divine Judgement for all in the end.