Two Senate committees in Belgium have voted and approved a proposal to introduce the right to grant euthanasia for terminally ill children. <br /><br />The proposed law, which still has to go to a vote of the full parliament, would make Belgium the first country in the world to remove the age limit for the procedure. <br /><br />Opponents question whether terminally ill children can reasonably decide to end their own lives. Some argue that it’s too much pressure to put on a child.<br /><br />Elke Sleurs, Belgian Senate member for the N-VA party and president of the committee for social affairs, told euronews: “Some people say that it is a choice between euthanasia or palliative care, but that of course is not true. It is just a final option that a minor who is terminally ill will say ‘now I have too much pain, there is no way that we can relieve the pain, I would like to die now.’ And that is the possibility that we have given, in certain circumstances.”<br /><br />Francis Delpérée , Belgian politician and a member of the cdH, said: “We talking about an underage child who is at the end of his or her life. The question we are asking is whether, at a time like this, we can burden him or her with an another psychological issue: daddy, mummy, you gave me life now I am asking you to take it away.”<br /><br />Belgium is already one of the world’s most liberal countries<br />when it comes to euthanasia, making it available to adults who<br />are not terminally ill. <br /><br />The Netherlands allows the practice for children as young as 12, but only five cases have been recorded since 2002. <br /><br />In Europe, euthanasia is also legal in Luxembourg.
