This is an incredibly complex issue that does not admit of easy answers.
I used to be a firm believer in the "autonomy/mercy" viewpoint. Now, not so much. The experience in the Netherlands is pretty scary. Though of course if you ask them it's all fine and dandy. I'm currently finishing up my master's thesis on the Groningen Protocol, which is a set of guidelines in the Netherlands for euthanizing newborns with significant, but not necessarily fatal, disabilities.
The protocol itself is a horrible step down the slippery slope of euthanasia.
I'll try and write more later when I have more time.
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"For thousands of years humans were oppressed - as some of us still are - by the notion that the universe is a marionette whose strings are pulled by a god or gods, unseen and inscrutable." - Carl Sagan
Freedom consonant with responsibility.
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