De “euthanasie”-kinderen

“Never again” did not prevent the revival of “mercy killing” from spreading across the globe. In 2001 the Netherlands adopted legislation that allows euthanasia for terminally ill patients. Since then several countries (Switzerland, Belgium, Canada and several States in the USA) have adopted “euthanasia” as a way to reduce healthcare spending. In just over a decade the Netherlands and Belgium have moved from euthanising the terminally ill to include “patients with non-terminal diseases, dementia, mental illness, alcoholism and children”. In 2004 the “Groningen protocol” was created in the Netherlands. This legislation allows for the mercy-killing of “severely ill newborns with a hopeless prognosis and unbearable suffering”. In reality euthanasia, or infanticide, has been used mainly for newborns with spina bifida and hydrocephalus. There is no reason to assume these babies were in severe pain or would endure a life of suffering. Reality has shown that a major portion of acts of euthanasia, both in adults and children, violates it’s own guidelines: there is no consent, no severe or terminal suffering and an underreporting of cases. At an International convention on neural tube conditions a specialist remarked that spina bifida has become a “third-world-condition” because in Europe these babies simply aren’t allowed to be born anymore. Prenatal screening has replaced death by euthanasia for many infants with Spina Bifida in the Netherlands. Antoinette Reerink, editor for a National newspaper, reported that since the introduction of the 20-week scan in 2007 most babies are aborted if spina bifida is diagnosed (…) Tests are promoted with the slogan “freedom of choice” and selective abortion is passionately defended by many. But the dehumanization and eradication of specific groups of people is not a sign of dignity, freedom or progression. It is, and always has been, a sign of a population which is being controlled. “Never again” are meaningless words if our actions don’t match.

Renate Lindeman in Die “Euthanasie”-Kinder (HuffingtonPost)