The Hague, Netherlands - Tuesday's development prompted pro-life campaigner Dr. Bert Dorenbos to say he felt "ashamed" at what is being done in his country's name.
Speaking by telephone from the square in front of the upper house of parliament, Dorenbos said he was convinced most Dutchmen and women were opposed to what was being perpetrated by "a small group of hardliners."
"We are trying to excel in evil. We see the result. It doesn't bring happiness, it brings problems and death," Dorenbos said. "But I'm convinced this is not the will of the majority of Holland. We're working to revive the good spirits of the Dutch people, and there are many [right-minded people] in this country."
On Tuesday afternoon, the protestors outside parliament were joined by thousands more arriving from around the country, brought in by schools,youth groups and women's organizations, for a silent protest, he said.
Dorenbos is president of a group called Cry for Life, which Monday night handed lawmakers a petition bearing 40,000 signatures, appealing to them to defeat the Bill. But he acknowledged that the chamber was weighted in favor of euthanasia. A simple majority of the 75 Senators is required to pass the law, which the lower house passed by 104 votes to 40 last November.
The three parties comprising the ruling coalition, Labor, VVD and D66, hold 38 seats between them, while the Greens, with eight seats, also support the Bill. It is opposed by the Christian Democrats, the Socialists and smaller Calvinist parties.
Dorenbos said pro-lifers would continue to campaign against euthanasia even though the law was passed. Noting that Australia's Northern Territory had in 1996 legalized medically-assisted suicide for terminally-ill patients, but later repealed the law, he expressed the hope of a future reversal in the Netherlands too.
"Things will change. [Euthanasia] is an offense against human rights. I believe that soon the whole pro-death mentality will be turned upside down."
Dorenbos said some Dutch euthanasia campaigners wanted to push things further, making it even easier for a person to demand suicide than the new law's restrictions will allow.
"[Some] pro-euthanasia people say that every person has the right to kill himself at any point, not when he is terminally-ill, just fed up with life." This law, he said, was merely another step towards an even more dangerous situation, and so the battle would continue.
Dorenbos said he suspected the slide would be halted by doctors who eventually dig in their heels, saying that they were being forced to take lives at their patients' demand, rather than trying to save them. "Doctors should be the last people to kill," he argued. If the government legalized euthanasia, it should also appoint official killers. "It's a horrible thought, but I'm just following their mindset."
Earlier this year, Dutch pro-life activists were hoping that a murder conviction of a doctor who ended a terminally-ill patient's life prematurely may have helped to swing legislators' opinion against the law being voted on today.
Wilfred van Oijen was convicted of murder for killing an 84-year-old woman in 1997. Although doctors have up to now been allowed to hasten patients' deaths under prescribed circumstances, he failed to get the woman's go-ahead. Neither did he get another doctor's opinion, as stipulated.
Among those waiting for the Netherlands to legalize euthanasia was an Australian doctor who wants to acquire a Dutch-registered ship, then anchor in international waters off his home country and offer euthanasia while circumventing Australian law.
Philip Nitschke, who killed four patients in the Northern Territory before the euthanasia law was abolished, did not respond this week to emailed queries about his controversial proposal. But he was quoted earlier as saying he knew of many people who would take up his services if his floating euthanasia clinic was operating. Australian pro-lifers have called the plan "bizarre."
Dorenbos said Tuesday his group had approached lawmakers about stipulating that the new law should not enable people like Nitschke to exploit Dutch legislation in this way.
"The fact that this man is doing it is proving that what we are doing is evil," he said. "That he's choosing a Dutch ship is proof that these people like to work in the dark."
The Pro-Life Infonet
10. april 2001