Dutch want voluntary euthanasia for those over 70

A Dutch euthanasia organization has collected over 100,000 signatures on a petition urging that those over 70 be able to select death for no reason or any reason. Those who are "tired of living," they insist, should be able to choose a lethal injection to end their lives. The group is working for legislation that permits euthanasia on demand beginning at age 70.

Anyone with an ounce of common sense realizes this is just the beginning. Abortion started with several decades of lobbying for the hard cases of rape, incest, and life of the mother. Euthanasia began with the sick and the suffering and the handicapped. Now the pricetag is being lowered to include those over 70 who are "tired of living." Euthanasia on demand is the next frontier for the culture of death. The "Right to Die" group in Holland has been promoting changes in the law to allow healthy people to request death since 1973. They recommend a plan that would allow non-medical licensed technicians to administer lethal injections to fulfill the wishes of those requesting death.

Of course those promoting euthanasia on demand insist it will be voluntary with safeguards to protect the depressed or those being pressured. But just as coerced abortion is a very real problem, coerced euthanasia won't be far behind. How many family members tired of caring for an elderly parent will pressure them to select the needle? How many elderly in situations of abuse or neglect will be desperate enough to prefer death than living in misery? And then there are the financial incentives. Why wait for mom and dad to go naturally while the inheritance is shrinking?

Statistics from the NCEA (National Coalition on Elder Abuse) indicate that, "According to the best available estimates, between 1 and 2 million Americans age 65 or older have been injured, exploited, or otherwise mistreated by someone on whom they depended for care or protection." Will those abusive caregivers have qualms about hastening the end of someone considered a burden?

Pro-lifers predicted after Roe v. Wade that euthanasia was the inevitable result. The murder of the innocent has been taking place now for years with euthanasia by neglect of handicapped newborns and deliberate dehydration of others like Terri Schiavo, Hugh Finn, and Nancy Cruzon. Only the disputed cases go public. Many die quietly with the unanimous consent of the family.

Countries that have legalized euthanasia have, so far, limited it to those suffering from terminal diseases. But the push is on to expand the killing to healthy adults. Once governments allow it, there is no reason to believe the injections won't soon extend to anyone of any age who wants to die or is coerced to request it. The apocalyptic fourth horseman is in the saddle and riding hard in the Netherlands. How long before he crosses the border into the rest of the world?

"When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, 'Come!' I looked and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth." Revelation 6:7-8