DUTCH MAY KILL 12-YEAR-OLDS AGAINST PARENTS' WISHES; SOUTH AFRICA MOVES TO LEGALIZE INVOLUNTARY ACTIVE EUTHANASIA

In a further move down the slippery slope, the government of the Netherlands - - the only foreign country in which direct killing of patients is now legal - - has proposed legislation that would authorize euthanasia of children as young as 12 without their parents' consent. The Associated Press reported that the "plans are expected to gain parliamentary approval next year."

The legislation would also reaffirm existing court precedents in Holland that make clear euthanasia is legal not just for those who are terminally ill but also for those whose "suffering" is considered irremediable. It would be possible for individuals to authorize their own killing through legal documents that would be applicable if they became incapable of making decisions, for example as the result of a stroke or a mental disability.

Health Minister Els Borst is a member of the Netherlands Association for Voluntary Euthanasia.

Meanwhile, South Africa opened parliamentary debate on a bill, drafted by the South African Law Commission, that would legalize the killing of terminally ill patients not only when they request it but also, when they are incompetent, against the will of their families.

Under the proposal, terminally ill patients could be killed directly at their own request. If a terminally ill patient were incompetent to make a decision for or against being killed, then a court could direct that the patient be killed "on application by any interested person."

While the bill provides that a "court shall not make [such] an order ... without the close family of the patient having been given the opportunity to be heard," it is clear that the court can direct the killing of the patient over their objection.

Opening the debate, Health Minister Mantombazana Tshabalala-Msimang argued that while the country's constitution covers the right to life, it also covers a right "to human dignity."