Unrepeatable
9/27/20263 min read
Unrepeatable
The Push for Child MAiD I Bill Vassilopoulos
When I first began blogging on Vital Core Life back in 2017, proponents of Canada’s newly enacted Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) framework insisted that strict boundaries would keep the procedure rare, tightly controlled, and strictly limited to competent adults facing imminent, terminal decline.
My warnings at the time were not based on mere speculation. They were informed by what had already occurred internationally—specifically in Belgium, as well as broader European models like Switzerland.
In February 2014, Belgium amended its Euthanasia Act of 2002 to completely remove all age restrictions, becoming the first country in the world to legalize voluntary pediatric euthanasia for terminally ill children of any age deemed to have "capacity of discernment." At the same time, Switzerland’s long-standing legal framework under Article 115 of its Criminal Code allowed assisted suicide organizations to operate without explicit statutory age minimums, provided the individual possessed decision-making capacity.
Seeing these precedents unfold in Europe made the trajectory clear: once a healthcare system codifies the active termination of life as a standard medical option, statutory safeguards inevitably dissolve, and the target shifts toward our youth. Nearly a decade after those initial warnings on Vital Core Life, those predictions are no longer hypothetical. They are actively manifesting in policy reports, parliamentary committee recommendations, and international medical reviews.
A Grim Benchmark: The Dutch Precedent
The global trajectory toward pediatric euthanasia reached a chilling milestone when a Dutch government review committee ruled that a physician acted with "due care" in actively ending the life of a nearly two-year-old child.
Born prematurely at 26 weeks, the toddler suffered from severe brain damage, spastic cerebral palsy, visual impairment, and epilepsy. Because a two-year-old cannot request, comprehend, or consent to medical termination, state authorities technically categorized the procedure as termination of life without a request.
The official review committee report highlighted the profound disagreement among medical experts:
Initial Medical Refusal: Two independent physicians examined the child and concluded that the toddler was not in continuous, unbearable suffering. They identified viable alternative treatments, including pharmacological adjustments and pediatric palliative measures, to better manage the child’s seizures and discomfort.
Refusing Palliative Alternatives: The parents refused the recommended palliative care and sought another opinion until finding a doctor willing to declare that no reasonable alternative existed to eliminate suffering other than ending the child's life.
Dehumanization in the Official Record: In justifying the state's approval, the government review panel cited the child’s cognitive development, writing that "every facet of 'being human' in terms of motor skills, behavior and personality was severely affected."
When a government committee defines "being human" by functional motor skills and personality metrics, intrinsic human dignity is completely erased. A child with severe cerebral palsy is no longer protected as a vulnerable human being, but evaluated as an entity whose life can be administratively terminated.
The Slippery Slope in Canada
The international precedents in Belgium and the Netherlands demonstrate what happens when society moves from voluntary adult consent to third-party quality-of-life evaluations. In Canada, the expansion follows a parallel track:
2016–2017: Bill C-14 legalizes MAiD for adults while explicitly mandating parliamentary studies on mature minors. Early commentary on Vital Core Life warned that using European developments as a policy reference laid the administrative foundation for domestic expansion.
2021 (Bill C-7): The requirement for death to be "reasonably foreseeable" is repealed, opening Track 2 access to individuals with non-terminal chronic conditions and disabilities.
2022–2023: The Collège des médecins du Québec proposes expanding MAiD to infants aged 0 to 1 born with severe, fatal malformations, while Parliament’s Special Joint Committee officially recommends expanding access to mature minors under 18.
Palliative Care vs. Systemic Abandonment
Having spent nearly a decade in Human Services advocating for adults with disabilities, alongside years conducting frontline suicide intervention training, I have seen firsthand what happens when systemic support is hollowed out. When you isolate vulnerable people, fail to provide accessible resources, and present death as a medical solution, you destroy their desire to live.
Across Canada, specialized pediatric palliative care remains severely underfunded and geographically inaccessible for many families. When a healthcare system struggles to provide timely palliative resources but builds streamlined administrative pathways for lethal intervention, death ceases to be a neutral choice—it becomes the path of least resistance.
Defending the Intrinsic Worth of Our Youth
Scripture rejects any framework that evaluates a child's life based on physical function, developmental milestones, or administrative utility. Psalm 139 reminds us that every single life is fearfully and wonderfully made from the beginning. Galatians 6:2 commands us to carry one another's burdens—a duty that applies above all to protecting our children when they are at their most fragile.
What began as a critical warning on Vital Core Life in 2017, drawn from the expansion of child euthanasia in Belgium and Europe, is no longer a warning about what might happen. It is happening now. We must reject the expansion of MAiD to minors, demand full funding for specialized pediatric palliative care, and hold our institutions accountable to their primary duty: protecting human life.
To explore these qualitative community perspectives, interview insights, and systemic solutions further, digital and audiobook editions of Eyes Above the Water are available on my website.
Every child, every youth, and every young person navigating illness or disability needs to hear this truth loud and clear: you are irreplaceable, unrepeatable, and highly valued.
Warmly your friend,
Bill Vassilopoulos