Europe has taken a dark turn in recent years. In multiple countries across the continent, the culture of death has been slowly creeping, taking over Europe. Abortion, assisted suicide, euthanasia, ableism, and a totalitarian medical bureaucracy have taken the lives of countless people.
Assisted suicide and euthanasia
While assisted suicide is spreading across the United States, it has been legal in Europe for decades — and the effects are terrifying. New reports have found that people are being euthanized without their consent in increasing numbers. People are being killed even though they have mental illnesses; in fact, 1 in 3 Dutch doctors are willing to euthanize people with mental illnesses. Someone who survived sexual abuse and was previously suicidal can still be euthanized in Europe. Belgium has approved the euthanasia of children. People fighting depression have been killed, as have people who are transgender.
The list truly goes on and on. There is seemingly no end to the depravity of assisted suicide in Europe, no checks and balances left. The slippery slope has come and gone.
Ableism
One deadly issue that affects virtually all of these problems — assisted suicide, abortion, deadly medical bureaucracies — is ableism, or discrimination against people with disabilities. For such people, Europe is a dangerous place to be. Through multiple channels, it’s clear that people with disabilities are not only unwanted, but are considered unworthy of life.
People with disabilities are often euthanized. Parents can kill their disabled children. In multiple countries, like Poland, Iceland, and Denmark, preborn babies with disabilities, like Down syndrome, are all but being eradicated through abortion. In the Netherlands, women are told that they have a “moral duty” to abort their babies with Down syndrome. In the United Kingdom, abortion is illegal after 24 weeks — unless the baby is diagnosed with a disability, no matter how minor, in which case the abortion is allowed regardless of gestational age.
Deadly medical bureaucracy
One of the most terrifying indications of the spread of the culture of death in Europe is in the United Kingdom, where parents evidently cannot safely take their children to the hospital anymore. The stories of both Charlie Gard and Alfie Evans horrified the world. Multiple countries around the world tried desperately to help both children; doctors at hospitals in other countries were willing to help try to either save their lives or provide compassionate palliative care.
But it didn’t matter. For both Charlie and Alfie, their parents’ wishes were overridden by British courts, who ruled that the two boys had to die. Alfie and Charlie died, thanks to a deadly totalitarian medical bureaucracy which seems to have no tolerance for patients who are severely disabled and just need to hurry up and die.
Abortion
Abortion is legal in many European countries, even though it is more heavily restricted than it is in the United States. But there are still major problems. Abortion chains like Marie Stopes International have been found in investigations to pressure women to have abortions and throw babies into the trash. There have also been allegations of sex-selective abortions in the United Kingdom, and preborn babies with disabilities are often targeted for abortion. Russia is an example of a country with a very deep-seated abortion culture, with one of the highest abortion rates in the world. In France, pro-life websites have been criminalized. On and on it goes.
There are a few countries that still hold to their pro-life values; Malta, for example, is one of the most pro-life countries in the world. But the sweeping culture of death does not shy away from these bastions of life; one only needs to look to Ireland to see. Abortion activists are mobilizing to pass a referendum that could legalize abortion until birth in what is currently one of the most pro-life countries in the world. Abortion is currently illegal in ireland, and if it’s legalized, it is estimated that approximately 14,000 babies will die each year.
If allowed to spread, there is nowhere that the culture of death cannot touch. We must be vigilant and work against its spread here in the United States and around the world.
