Dutch legalise euthanasia - News about religious cults and sects

THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- The Netherlands has become the first country in the world to legalise euthanasia.

As the senate voted 46-28, with one member absent, to endorse the legislation, an estimated 10,000 people protested outside, many singing hymns.

The bill allows doctors to kill patients with terminal diseases who are suffering "unbearably" if they request it.

It will now take at least two weeks for the bill to become law while a number of formalities --including Queen Beatrix signing the bill -- are completed

It regulates a practice discreetly used in Dutch hospitals and homes for decades, turning guidelines adopted by parliament in 1993 into legally binding requirements.
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Rita Marker, a spokesperson for the International Task force on Euthanasia, speaking to CNN, called it a "chilling" development and said it would damage doctor-patient relationships.

However Tamora Langley, of the UK Voluntary Euthanasia Society, welcomed the news and said: "This is part of a broader development in Europe allowing people to make their own informed choices."

She said the strict requirements meant it "was in no way a license to kill."

Doctors are not supposed to suggest euthanasia as an option and a patient must be aware of all other medical options and have sought a second professional opinion.

The request would have to be made voluntarily, persistently and independently while the patient is of sound mind.

Patients can however leave a written request for euthanasia, giving doctors the right to use their own discretion when patients become too physically or mentally ill to decide for themselves.

In the weeks preceding the debate, the upper house was swamped with more than 60,000 letters, most of them urging the legislators to vote against the bill.

The anti-euthanasia group "Cry for Life" gathered 25,000 signatures on a petition.

Speaking in favour of the bill when the debate began Monday, Diana de Wolff, of the Greens party, said the law "will codify a practice which has a very broad consensus, and we will even remain on the conservative side of that consensus."

But Egbert Schuurman, of Christian Union, called the bill "a historic mistake."
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Currently several countries -- Switzerland, Colombia and Belgium -- tolerate euthanasia although it has not been legalised.
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See also:
» Dutch euthanasia law - what's involved

, CNN, Nov. 28, 2000
» Euthanasia Policy

Information provided by the Netherlands Foreign Ministry office.
» Justice Ministry Press Release

» End of Life Issues

Information provided by the Ministry of Health, Wellfare and Sports

» Euthanasia: How do Christians Respond?

» Death by Default

''Few seem to have noticed the euthanasia movement's latest gains''
Feb. 15, 2001 editorial by Christianity Today.
» Dutch Churches in Last-Ditch Effort to Stop Euthanasia Law

ENI news item, published
in Christianity Today, Mar. 19, 2001