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Belgium Lawmakers: Expand Euthanasia Law to Include Children
LifeNews ^ | September 8, 2004 | Steven Ertelt

Posted on 09/09/2004 1:27:38 PM PDT by NYer

Brussels, Belgium (LifeNews.com) -- Following a proposal in neighboring Netherlands, Belgian lawmakers are putting forward a measure that would expand the country's legal euthanasia law to allow doctors to end the lives of children without parental permission.

According to a Reuters report, members of Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt's ruling Flemish Liberal political party are putting forward the proposal.

Senators Jeannine Leduc and Paul Wille claim Belgian children with supposedly incurable diseases have as much right to end their lives as adults, Reuters reported.

"Their suffering is as great (and) the situation they face is as intolerable and inhumane," their legislation reads.

The lawmakers also want to legaliz the practice of assisted suicide so patients can kill themselves.

Last week, a leading Catholic official is blasted a proposal in the Netherlands that would allow children under the age of 12 to request assisted suicide.

Bishop Elio Sgreccia, the vice-president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, condemned the idea saying "the final boundary will have been crossed" in disrespect for the sanctity of human life.

Belgium legalized euthanasia in September 2002.

In all, 400 cases of euthanasia have been documented in Belgium since the practice was legalized and many more may not have been reported to governmental authorities.

Brian Johnston, the author of "Death as a Salesman: What's Wrong With Assisted Suicide" told LifeNews.com that the figure leads him to believe that "euthanasia is not being employed for medically indicated reasons but instead for culturally indicated reasons."

Under Belgium's "mercy killing" regulations, a doctor can only assist in a patient's death if the individual has asked "voluntarily and repeatedly" and has "thought deeply" about what he or she is asking.

The patient must also be deemed in full control of his or her mental faculties. Belgian authorities have interpreted that to mean that the patient is fully aware of what he or she is asking and is not being pressured by anyone.

However, a number of ethicists point out that the "right to die" often leads to the "duty to die," with people who are seriously ill believing that they must end their lives in order to avoid being a burden to others.

For instance, published reports indicate that euthanasia practitioners routinely engage in illegal practices that are abusive to patients.

In June, reports surfaced that three people with Huntington's disease and a person with Alzheimer's had died in the Netherlands as a result of euthanasia -- even though Dutch law prohibits mercy killing in such cases.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events; Philosophy; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: belgium; itsforthechildren
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To: eccentric

Leftists always complain about money spent keeping the sick and elderly alive rather than relieving them of their alleged suffering.


21 posted on 09/09/2004 4:28:13 PM PDT by babaloo999 (Liberals say they're "Progressive". So is cancer.-------------------they're, their, whatever)
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To: cpforlife.org; All
"It's in Belgium and elsewhere today. At the rate of things it's not unlikely that in less than 50 years there will be as many euthanasia "clinics" as there are abortion "clinics" here in America."

There are some in the US right now who are trying to establish a legal precedent for non-consensual euthanasia. First for disabled adults - but if they succeed, this will follow.

Everyone should see any Terri Schiavo thread on FR, or:
http://www.terrisfight.org
22 posted on 09/09/2004 7:05:01 PM PDT by Wampus SC (Hugophobic)
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To: NYer

"allow doctors to end the lives of children without parental permission. "


This is a chilling thought isn't it.




23 posted on 09/09/2004 8:09:24 PM PDT by TASMANIANRED (Kerry/Edwards. Between the two of them, I'd be safer with a slimy spitball.)
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To: NYer; floriduh voter; phenn; cyn; FreepinforTerri; kimmie7; Pegita; windchime; tutstar; ...

Euthanasia ping!

My computer has been on the fritz again lately. I just wanted to get this ping in while I still could!


24 posted on 09/09/2004 11:05:54 PM PDT by Ohioan from Florida (The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.- Edmund Burke)
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To: NYer

I see the hairy hand of George Soros.


25 posted on 09/09/2004 11:10:58 PM PDT by Deb (Lee Harvey Oswald Served With Honor.)
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To: NYer

That's OK. We Westerners are making up for our own people we're killing via abortion & euthanasia by bringing in people from places where such practices are unthinkable.

That's the good news.

The bad news is that these immigrants also consider freedom and civilization to be just as unthinkable. What sort of future are we building for ourselves in the West?

Is Pat Buchanan's |Death of the West| that far-fetched?


26 posted on 09/09/2004 11:42:51 PM PDT by walford (http://utopia-unmasked.us)
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To: Ohioan from Florida

Our Lord said the Enemy of our souls was a Murderer from the beginning; so also are his henchmen. O Merciful Lord Jesus, please protect the weak, helpless, and infirm among the sons of men, that the Murderer of souls would be frustrated in his wicked designs on their lives!


27 posted on 09/10/2004 2:07:29 AM PDT by Kitty Mittens
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To: Kitty Mittens

Medical schools should toss out the hippocratic oath.


28 posted on 09/10/2004 2:10:02 AM PDT by cyborg (http://mentalmumblings.blogspot.com/)
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To: NYer
What's next!!

What's next is to change the basis for considering Euthanasia.

Shortly, legal justifications will include:

1) They looked at me cockeyed

2) They didn't finished their vegetables

3) They still believe in God

4) They don't like mommy's new girlfriend and want daddy back

29 posted on 09/10/2004 2:38:35 AM PDT by Caipirabob (Democrats.. Socialists..Commies..Traitors...Who can tell the difference?)
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To: NYer
Has the land of some of my for fathers sunk this low?

Pray for Europe. If the US is going to face chastisement for our sinfulness, Europe is trying real hard to destroy herself. I just can imagine the rational behind this.
30 posted on 09/10/2004 5:14:55 AM PDT by redgolum
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To: All

-In the first decades of the 20th Century, Eugenics, quite literally, was an effort to breed better human beings – by encouraging the reproduction of people with "good" genes and discouraging those with "bad" genes. Eugenicists effectively lobbied for social legislation to keep racial and ethnic groups separate, to restrict immigration from southern and eastern Europe, and to sterilize people considered "genetically unfit." Elements of the American eugenics movement were models for the Nazis, whose radical adaptation of eugenics culminated in the Holocaust.

This is quoted from http://www.eugenicsarchive.org/eugenics/ I urge all to visit this site as well as other eugenics sites such as http://www.africa2000.com/ENDX/aepage.htm to gain knowledge about this dangerous concept.

Planned parenthood waS founded by a member of the early
American Eugenics movement, Margaret Sanger.

Euthanasia is an extension of Eugenics.


31 posted on 09/10/2004 11:58:24 PM PDT by rotundusmaximus
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