Belgium to allow children to kill themselves

The following quote may be attributed to Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Legal Counsel Roger Kiska regarding the Belgian Chamber of Deputies’ 86–44 vote Thursday to pass a law that allows children to kill themselves:

“No civilized society allows children to kill themselves. Far from a compassionate law, this law hands the equivalent of a loaded gun to a child with the astonishing belief that the child should be free to pull the trigger if he or she so chooses. Belgium’s decision to allow this is grotesquely abhorrent and inhumane. As the legal analysis we provided to members of the Belgian Parliament explained, the law’s underlying premise is that life is not worth living and that children are somehow mature enough to make such grave decisions about their own lives. On the contrary, this law exploits vulnerable children by handing to them a ‘freedom’ that they are completely ill-equipped to bear.”

• ADF analysis of extension of Belgian euthanasia law to include minors (2013-12-06): English | French | Dutch
• Written declaration by members of the Council of Europe opposing Belgium’s child euthanasia law (2014-01-30)
• ADF international legal updates
• Pronunciation guide: Kiska (KISH’-kuh)

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