Belgium approves euthanasia for children

February 13, 2014

Belgium’s parliament has voted to allow euthanasia for children.

By a vote of 86 to 44, the lower house of the Belgian legislature approved the measure, which had already won passage by the senate last year. The law would authorize doctors to end the lives of children who ask to die because they are terminally ill and in pain. The bill stipulates that the children must understand their request, and parents must give their approval.

Belgium’s Catholic bishops issued a statement saying that they were “very disappointed” by the parliamentary action. The bishops expressed fears that the new law would “open wide the door to a future extension [of euthanasia] to handicapped persons, people with dementia, those who are mentally ill, even those who are tired of living.”

Last year there were 1,432 cases of legal euthanasia in Belgium.

 

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Further information:

• Belgian parliament approves child euthanasia (Catholic Herald)
• Belgian senate approves euthanasia for children (CWN, 12/13)