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3 - The Extension of the Belgian Euthanasia Law to Minors in 2014

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2021

Ben P. White
Affiliation:
Queensland University of Technology
Lindy Willmott
Affiliation:
Queensland University of Technology
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Summary

On May 16 2002, the Belgian parliament approved the original law permitting euthanasia. The law was voted in after three years of debate in parliament and within the Federal Advisory Committee on Bioethics. The focus of this chapter is an issue which has been of particular interest in recent public debates internationally: the extension of the law in 2014 to permit minors with ‘capacity of discernment’ to have access to euthanasia. Although the law now theoretically applies to Belgians of all ages, in reality, euthanasia for minors will be limited to older adolescents. This chapter considers how the issue of children’s access to euthanasia came to be considered and the process of reform including the positions and arguments of different entities. Also considered is parliament’s rationale for this change in the law. Of particular significance in the reform process was the view that the age barrier for euthanasia was perceived as arbitrary. The prime qualifier for a valid, well-considered and competent request should not be chronological age but mental age and maturity.

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International Perspectives on End-of-Life Law Reform
Politics, Persuasion and Persistence
, pp. 40 - 62
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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