Belgium Legislature Considers Euthanasia for Minors

Belgian lawmakers are considering whether to expand legalized euthanasia to include children 18 years of age or younger, Baptist Press reports. Euthanasia is already being practiced on minors, an expert told legislators. "We all know it," and physicians "need a legal framework," said Dominique Biarent, who oversees the intensive care unit at Queen Fabiola Children's University Hospital in Brussels. Pro-life blogger Wesley Smith criticized Biarent's call for legal guidelines. "Euthanasia guidelines are worse than meaningless, they are pretense," Smith wrote. "They exist to give the illusion of control. But once people come [to] fully accept the premise of euthanasia -- killing as a remedy for suffering -- it's Katy bar the door." Belgium became the second country to legalize euthanasia in 2002; The Netherlands preceded it.