Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport

Netherlands Minister of Health Hugo de Jonge announced on Tuesday that assisted suicide for terminally ill children under the age of twelve is to be legalized. He quoted a study according to which the new regulation will affect about five to ten children per year.

The study shows that "among parents and doctors alike, there is a need to actively end the lives of terminally ill children who suffer hopelessly and unbearably and who will die in the foreseeable future," de Jonge wrote to Parliament.