"It's for their own good."
"They would have died anyway."
"Their parents are happier without the burden."
"Society can no longer afford to keep such children alive."
The revelation that newborn euthanasia was both common and acceptable in the Netherlands was greeted with harsh criticisms from around the world, with one Italian Minister going to far as to accuse the Netherlands of Nazism. [which comparison was quickly and firmly denounced by everyone...mustn't say such things...]
A lengthy report that appears in the most recent issue of The Hastings Center Report...strongly defends the Groningen Protocol as humane and perfectly ethical. It especially defends the ethical nature of the protocol's provisions for killing newborns with conditions that would allow them to live for many years.
The article, entitled "Ending the Life of a Newborn", penned by a pair of bioethicists - Hilde Lindemann and Marian Verkerk - ostensibly sets out to clarify eight separate "misunderstandings" about The Groningen Protocol. In the process, the pair defies initial expectations by boldly and unapologetically pointing out that the protocol is in truth much more extreme than most of its critics believe it to be;
the authors, however, argue that its extremity is in fact its true strength, the true evidence of its ethical nature.
Why is it always, "one mustn't say such things" and NEVER, "one mustn't do such things?"
ReplyDeleteThe Netherlands where prostitution and drugs are legal. Let's throw in euthanasia and babykilling and we really have a brave new world.
I'm still waiting for the "feelies".
ReplyDeleteThat's going to be awesome!
And Huxley was writing before modern computer technologies.