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Notes -
Following up on the surrogacy story shared by @MollieTheMare last week, I present to you yet another man-made horror beyond our comprehension:
https://www.lifenews.com/2026/09/14/netherlands-euthanizes-disabled-2-year-old-child/
Another link if you think a pro-life website isn't a trustworthy source: https://nltimes.nl/2026/09/09/first-ever-case-euthanasia-young-child-2-handled-well-dutch-committee
"The doctor and the parents decided to actively end the child’s life after concluding that the supposed suffering could not be relieved, according to the Assessment Committee for Late-Term Abortion and Termination of Life in Newborns and Children Ages 1 to 12."
My first thought while reading this article, apart from general horror at what was done, was "The WHAT committee?" My second thought was to Philip K. Dick's now officially prophetic short story, The Pre-Persons. That's right, if you didn't know, the father of cyberpunk and author of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (i.e. Blade Runner) and We Can Remember It for You Wholesale (i.e. Total Recall) was anti-abortion (emphasis mine):
Infanticide is nothing new in human history. And while Christian societies haven't been free from killing infants en masse via exposure, abortion, and other means, they have been (as far as I can tell) effectively the only societies in human history to even attempt to abolish the practices. Philip K. Dick, for example, was Episcopalian (though he shifted towards a more Gnostic view of Christianity towards the end of his life).
I guess I'm mostly curious to see everyone's reactions to this story, but also to my assertion that opposition to these things is almost exclusively a Christian thing. I'd be curious to see some secular humanist or other arguments against them, though I strongly suspect that they will be smuggling in some very Christian assumptions without realizing it. After all, to quote Leon Trotsky: "We must rid ourselves once and for all of the Quaker-Papist babble about the sanctity of human life."
I think it’s ethical.
The “abortion” label obscures and the child’s age is irrelevant. This is putting down someone in pain who can’t advocate for themselves and won’t get better. Imagine they were 80 and not parents but children made the decision. Imagine they were you. We can’t prove certainly they were miserable, but all signs indicate such; and the alternative for them is not really living, at least I can’t imagine them being happy.
From the pro-life site:
Yeah, born 26 weeks early and with severe brain damage. Also visual impairments, cerebral palsy, and untreatable epileptic seizures. The kid could be kept alive through likely expensive and invasive means, with no hope of alleviating the suffering. But that seems largely pointless. Based on the article, this is not a case that modern medicine is capable of treating, so instead the decision was made to end the life as humanely as possible.
*At 26 weeks (i. e., 13 weeks early)
Oh yeah, true. Nice catch. Doesn't change the overall point though, that this is what euthanasia is supposed to be.
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