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Netherlands: Euthanasia law expands to include children as young as one

Netherlands: Euthanasia law expands to include children as young as one
Photo by Meritt Thomas / Unsplash
ET staff writer
ET staff writer
14 June, 2023 1 min read

Children across the Netherlands will be eligible for euthanasia later this year when the country broadens its law.

As reported in The Guardian, the Dutch government has agreed to revise the Euthanasia Act to include children between the ages of one and twelve.

According to a statement put out by the government, the new rules would apply to approximately five to ten children a year who suffer ‘unbearably from their disease, have no hope of improvement and for whom palliative care cannot bring relief’.

The government statement also said, ‘The end of life for this group is the only reasonable alternative to the child’s unbearable and hopeless suffering’.

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