_WORLD WATCH______________________________
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Euthanasia law goes into effect
Proponents want new license expanded
A new law went into effect in the Netherlands on April 1, allowing doctors to kill their terminally ill patients.

The European country became the first nation in the world formally to legalize euthanasia. For several years the practice was technically illegal, but prosecutors had agreed to look the other way when doctors killed their patients, or helped them kill themselves, to avoid the ravages of a terminal illness. Now legal acceptance of the practice is clear, and proponents of euthanasia already want the law to be expanded to allow the prescription of fatal dosages of pharmaceuticals to elderly people who are not terminally ill.

The parliament of the Netherlands had passed the law last year, allowing a one-year period before the new policy went into effect. The new legislation quickly became an impetus for other countries to begin debate over their own laws regarding euthanasia. Belgium has already passed new legislation easing the restrictions on assisted suicide, and similar measures are under discussion in Switzerland and France. As the law in the Netherlands took effect, L’Osservatore Romano, the official Vatican newspaper, reiterated the Church’s opposition to euthanasia, calling it “a crime against life.”