Radio Netherlands has reported that once again, euthanasia will be debated in late January in the Netherlands lower house. The euthanasia lobby is pushing for euthanasia to be prescribed for any and no reason.
The push to expand the availability of euthanasia has been going on for a long-time. In 2006, I attended the World Federation of Right to Die Societies conference where the then leader of Right to Die Netherlands stated that their goal was to legalize euthanasia for people who are “tired of living.”
Recently the euthanasia lobby in the Netherlands has also been pushing for mobile euthanasia teams to deliver death to people with disabilities. Does this mean that death is preferable to living with a disability?
Euthanasia was first accepted in the Netherlands for people who were terminally ill and suffering. Now euthanasia is done for people who are not terminally ill, who are experiencing depression, for newborns with disabilities, and possibly soon for any and no reason.
It should not surprise anyone that the number of euthanasia deaths continue to rise in the Netherlands with a 19 per cent growth in euthanasia deaths in the past year alone.
Once death can be prescribed for one reason, there will soon be many more reasons to prescribe death. The only logical conclusion is to prescribe death for any and no reason.
The answer is to not accept euthanasia as the answer to any situation.
Alex Schadenberg is executive director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition. This article originally appeared at his blog, alexschadenberg.blogspot.com on Jan. 17 and is reprinted with permission.
