Pro
Wesley Smith, JD, Senior Fellow in Human Rights and Bioethics at the Discovery Institute, stated in his May 25, 2006 testimony before the US Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, & Property Rights:
“First, the slippery slope is very real. As Dr. [K.F.] Gunning put it, the Dutch have proved that once killing is accepted as a solution for one problem, tomorrow it will be seen as the solution for hundreds of problems. Once we accept the killing of terminally ill patients, as did the Dutch, we will invariably, over time, accept the killing of chronically ill patients, depressed patients, and ultimately perhaps, even children…
[T]he euthanasia virus is catching. A 2000 report found that 10 percent of Belgian deaths appear to result from euthanasia [“End-of-Life Decisions in Medical Practice in Flanders, Belgium: A Nationwide Survey,” The Lancet, Nov. 25, 2000]. With Belgian doctors clearly eager to follow the lead of their Dutch neighbor, Belgium formally legalized euthanasia in 2002. Notably, the first Belgian case, the killing of a man with multiple sclerosis, violated the guidelines; and just as occurs routinely in the Netherlands, the doctor involved faced no consequences. Now Belgium is set to legalize euthanasia for children. Indeed, Belgian doctors in Flanders have been found to commit infanticide in about the same numbers as their Dutch counterparts.” May 25, 2006