In a controversial decision the Dutch senate approved a bill legalizing euthanasia for patients with unbearable, terminal illness, making Netherlands the first nation in the world to legalize mercy killings. The Termination of Life on Request and Assisted Suicide (Review Procedures) Act was passed on November 28, 2000 by the Dutch Parliament’s Lower House, by a vote of 104-40, and by the Dutch Senate on this day in 2001 by a vote of 48 to 26. Few moral issues have evoked as much passion as the euthanasia debate.
-ENCL