Dutch health minister and deputy prime minister of the Netherlands, Hugo de Jonge, raises the prospect of euthanasia for terminally ill children aged 1 to 12-years-old. The health minister said he would work with health professionals and the law to realise the proposed measure.

The proposal follows a recent report by hospitals at Groningen, Rotterdam and Amsterdam, where a majority of doctors supported euthanasia for young minors at the request of the parents. The report recommended the creation of a new law to allow euthanasia for children aged under 12.

In the Netherlands, children aged between 12 and 15 can request euthanasia if parental consent is granted.

SPUC comment

SPUC said: “This appalling proposal is not altogether surprising, since the Netherlands, which legalised so-called mercy killings in 2002, has for years cultivated a culture of death rather than care.

“Even if a child has the right to consent – which seems impossible for any child under the age of 12 – the thought of an ailing child having to contend with the deliberate ending of his or her own life is reprehensible, whatever the circumstance. Mr De Jonge’s new act, if made law, would place a horrific and burdensome weight on a minor’s shoulders, as well as its parents.

“No child should have to contemplate the ending of their own life. On the contrary, they and their parents should be allowed to enjoy what time is left, to enjoy life, each other and the time that is given to them.”

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