In its never-ending mission to be the most “progressive” country in the world, the Netherlands just murdered a child. It was the first time a doctor has legally “assisted in the death of a terminally ill child aged between 1 and 12,” according to Sophie Hermans, the minister of health, welfare, and sport.
The Netherlands was the first country in the world to legalize voluntary euthanasia in April 2002, before expanding this law in 2024 to include children. According to the Dutch government’s website on “Termination of life for terminally ill children” from 1-12: “Sometimes, a child is so severely ill that the parents and doctor together decide that there is no alternative but to terminate the child’s life.”
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No alternative?
This, the government adds, is only permitted if “a child is terminally ill and is suffering unbearably with no prospect of improvement,” with “no cure, and no reasonable alternative to relieve the child’s suffering, even through palliative care.”
“In this situation, the doctor may decide, together with the parents, to terminate the child’s life,” it continues. “This decision is always made in consultation with the parents and, if possible, also with the child.”
It goes without saying that the suffering of children, especially terminally ill children, is the worst possible thing any parent could possibly imagine or experience. There is nothing more horrifying than to see your child suffer. But suffering is still a part of human existence, one we are continually fighting to reduce, and the suffering of a child can never be used for a government-sanctioned “termination of life.”
While the system of government-supported euthanasia is rife for abuse, there are at least reasonable arguments to be made in favor of strictly controlled assisted suicide for terminally ill adults. Why? First, because they are emotionally mature enough to make such a decision, and second, because they are involved in the decision from the outset.
But in the case of children, this is simply not the case.
Even if the child is part of this hellish “consultation,” are we seriously arguing that a suffering 12-year-old child is mature enough to decide whether or not they want to die? Of course, we also live in a society where many believe that children of that age should be able to decide whether or not to cut off their sexual organs in an attempt to change their gender.
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But there’s another layer here, and that’s the fact that this was inevitable. The legalized murder of children was always the next step for a civilization that embraces the murder of children in the form of abortion. If you reject the fact that life begins at conception, then there is no logical argument against there being any moral difference between murdering a baby three seconds before birth and three seconds after birth. But if this is the case, why not 10 seconds, or a minute, or, in the Netherlands’s case, 1 to 12 years?
Either life is precious, or it is not. If we agree that life is precious, which it is, then it is our duty to relieve suffering within the confines of this ultimate and unbending respect for life. If we continue opening the door to legal murder under the banner of compassion, then we’re showing no respect for life whatsoever. Not only that, we’re opening the door to a world in which “compassion” has been used to commit all manner of atrocious acts, including crimes that are somehow even worse.
Ian Haworth is a syndicated columnist. You can find his work on Substack.