The euthanasia lobby is pushing for child and infant euthanasia.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

A report by the Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying (AMAD) that was tabled in the House of Commons on February 15, 2023 called for a further expansion of euthanasia (MAiD) in Canada by recommending, among other things, that euthanasia be expanded to include children considered "mature minors." 

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Recommendation 19 in the report stated:

That the Government of Canada establish a requirement that, where appropriate, the parents or guardians of a mature minor be consulted in the course of the assessment process for MAID, but that the will of a minor who is found to have the requisite decision-making capacity ultimately take priority.This mean't that parents or guardians may be consulted, in the euthanasia death of a child that is deemed capable of decision-making.

The NLTimes reported on April 14 that the Dutch government has agreed to extend euthanasia to children, under the age of 12. The article stated:

Health Minister Ernst Kuipers announced in a press release on Friday that he expects the regulation to be implemented within the year. The new guidelines will probably only apply to about five to ten children annually for whom “life termination is the only viable option to end the child's hopeless and unbearable suffering,” said Kuipers.This means that the Netherlands government plans to extend the Groningen Protocol, which applies to newborns, to children between the ages of 1 and 12, rather than amending the euthanasia legislation to include children under the age of 12.Extending the Groningen Protocol is concerning because it permits euthanasia of newborns who are experiencing current or possible future suffering. By using the same definitions for children under 12 as they use for newborns, it is possible that there will be euthanasia deaths of children with treatable conditions.

HOPE Austalia reported on July 14 that Australia's Capital Territory (ACT) has plans to legalize euthanasia with no age restriction. Hope reported on July 14:

Shamelessly, Ms Cheyne recently announced the government’s plans to allow teenagers as young as 14 to be eligible for euthanasia, to do away with “arbitrary” expected death timelines of six to twelve months, and a commitment to exploring euthanasia for dementia patients.

When Canada's Supreme Court struck down the prohibition on euthanasia (Carter decision) in 2015, the Supreme Court indicated that euthanasia would be limited to competent adults who were capable of freely consenting. Once euthanasia is extended to children, it changes the nature of consent. Children are not adults and the nature of their consent can be questionable, and yet death is permanent.

But as bad as it is, the issue goes further. A presentation by Dr Louis Roy for the Québec College of Physicians to The Special Joint Committee on MAiD on September 7, 2022 urged Canada's Federal government to adopt a protocol to permit infant euthanasia. Dr Roy suggested that euthanasia of newborns should only be allowed in rare circumstances, such as a newborn who is unlikely to survive.

The infant euthanasia debate originates from philosphy professor, Peter Singer, who promotes euthanasia and infanticide for newborns with disabilities. In a recent interview for Vox's Future Perfect series Dylan Matthews interviewed Singer who stated:

But suppose that you have a human who lacks the cognitive capacities that enable normal humans to think about their future. That could be an infant. None of us were born with those capacities. Or it could be someone with a severe intellectual disability that was not treatable. For that matter, it could be somebody who didn’t really have much of a future to look forward to because they were terminally ill and they were expecting to die within weeks or months, and their quality of life had fallen to a level where they didn’t think it was worth going on.

Singer justifies the killing of infants and people with disabilities who lack an undefinable level of cognitive capacity.

Child Euthanasia is being debated in Canada, Australia, the Netherlands and it is already legal in Belgium. Newborn euthanasia is already permitted in the Netherlands and Belgium.

Euthanasia of infants with disabilities (infanticide) has been advocated by the Québec College of Physicians and is already approved in the Netherlands based on the Groningen Protocol and Belgium even though infants are not capable of requesting or consenting for death to be inflicted upon them.

The discussion around killing people with disabilities by euthanasia is eugenic. Eugenic euthanasia is the killing of people who society deems "unworthy of life."

Human equality requires that every human being have an equal right to life and no one has the power to kill another human being.

I believe in human equality. I oppose killing people.