Sloping to Nether lands?

Confirming the worst fears of those who said there would be no stopping the culture of death once it gets a good toe-hold, The Associated Press today reports that medical officials in the Netherlands are developing guidelines for the killing of ailing newborn infants. Included in the story is a horrifying revelation:

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) - A hospital in the Netherlands - the first nation to permit euthanasia - recently proposed guidelines for mercy killings of terminally ill newborns, and then made a startling revelation: It has already begun carrying out such procedures, which include administering a lethal dose of sedatives.

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Three years ago, the Dutch parliament made it legal for doctors to inject a sedative and a lethal dose of muscle relaxant at the request of adult patients suffering great pain with no hope of relief.

The Groningen Protocol, as the hospital's guidelines have come to be known, would create a legal framework for permitting doctors to actively end the life of newborns deemed to be in similar pain from incurable disease or extreme deformities.

The guideline says euthanasia is acceptable when the child's medical team and independent doctors agree the pain cannot be eased and there is no prospect for improvement, and when parents think it's best.

"When parents think it's best"?

Roman Catholic organizations and the Vatican have reacted with outrage to the announcement, and U.S. euthanasia opponents contend the proposal shows the Dutch have lost their moral compass.

"The slippery slope in the Netherlands has descended already into a vertical cliff," said Wesley J. Smith, a prominent California-based critic, in an e-mail to The Associated Press.

Dutch apologists for the budding infanticide industry claim that it will mean only about ten deaths a year, and that these deaths are already taking place illegally but are undocumented, even in the United States. Their contention is that by asking for permission under Dutch law, they are the good guys. This way they won't have to tell lies about it any more.

This is depravity, and there is a price to be paid for it, spiritually speaking. A nation this depraved is going to have a difficult time asking for God's mercy when the sky begins to crumble (metaphorically speaking). What constitutes a sky crumbling event? How about an imploding demographic of Christians and a rising Islamic presence?

NOTE -- We are speaking from a Christian viewpoint today, not an American one. The U.S., with its own public policy sins, has much to account for as well.