Netherlands confirms euthanasia of a minor

Netherlands confirms euthanasia of a minor: the slippery slope speeds up

The Dutch government has admitted that at least one child has been euthanised, as reported by the NL Times on 23 June 2026. The confirmation comes as Canada has just refused to extend euthanasia to people with mental illness alone, while the Netherlands has already crossed the threshold of minors.

The news was broken by Alex Schadenberg, executive director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, who denounces the review protocol as a dead letter: the review committee's recommendations are issued after the patient's death, so any irregularity detected does not bring the child back to life. "If the Public Prosecutor finds irregularities, it will not matter, because the child has already died," Schadenberg remarks ironically.

The debate on child euthanasia is not new in the Netherlands, but this is the first time the authorities have confirmed a specific case. Dutch law allows euthanasia for minors aged 12 to 16 with parental consent, and since 2014 also for children aged 1 to 12 under strict conditions. However, pro-life organisations and some sectors of the medical profession warn that the retrospective review does not guarantee that abuses will not occur.

Political and social reactions were not long in coming. While some describe the measure as "the logical consequence of a nihilistic worldview", others call it "collectivism that denies the child's individual freedom". A more sceptical sector doubts that a child can autonomously ask to die and suggests that the term "euthanasia" conceals a different reality.

What nobody disputes is that the case sets a precedent: if euthanasia for minors becomes normalised in the Netherlands, the so-called "slippery slope effect" could spread to other countries with similar laws, such as Belgium or Luxembourg.

Given these circumstances, the question is not whether there will be more cases, but how many remain to be confirmed.