‘No Justification’ for Medically Assisted Suicide for Babies, Says Conservative MP

Conservative MP Garnett Genuis watches a speaker present during a news conference in Ottawa, Canada, on Nov. 26, 2020. Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press

A doctor from the Quebec College of Physicians recently suggested to a parliamentary committee that medical assistance in dying, or MAiD, could be made available for disabled babies or those suffering greatly shortly after birth—a premise with which Conservative MP Garnett Genuis disagrees.

“Disability is no justification for killing children. There is never a justification for killing children,” said Genuis in a video posted to YouTube on Nov. 12.

“I can’t believe I have to say this: Killing children is always wrong.”

Dr. Louis Roy told the parliamentary joint committee on MAiD in October that the availability of medically assisted death should be considered for “emancipated minors between the ages of 14 and 17.”

“The pain that these young people may suffer must be taken into account,” said Roy on Oct. 7. “The suffering may become intolerable and it may no longer make sense in certain situations.”

Roy added that the “same is true” for babies born with “severe deformities and very serious syndromes for which the chances of survival are virtually nil.”

“[The deformities] will cause so much pain that a decision must be made to not allow the child to suffer,” he said.

In Canada, MAiD is currently available for mentally competent individuals aged 18 years or older. Patients must also be physically and seriously ill, but not necessarily terminally, and be undergoing “unbearable physical or mental suffering” that is in “an advanced state of decline that cannot be reversed.”

Canada’s MAiD eligibility is set to expand in March 2023 to allow patients suffering from mental illness to receive medically assisted suicide.

Genuis said in a previous Twitter post that Canada’s assisted suicide laws are in need of “urgent reform” due to a lack of safeguards amid broadening expansion.

‘Could be Explored’

Roy told the committee that an approach to assisted suicide for young children, similar to what the Netherlands has legislated, could be a viable option.

In the Netherlands, doctors can lawfully “terminate the lives of newborn infants” or “perform late-term abortion” if the newborn child is experiencing pain that is “unbearable and with no prospect of improvement.”

Other criteria include agreement and consent between the doctor and parents that there are no possible medical solutions to the child’s suffering, and also that the doctor must receive at least one other compliant opinion from another physician.

“This avenue could be explored,” Roy told MPs.

In addition to posting on YouTube, Genuis also posted his video response to Roy on Twitter, to which former Alberta NDP MPP Annie McKitrick replied, saying Genuis should “help rather than condemn.”

“You need to be respectful of the difficult decisions that are made by parents & individuals,” wrote McKitrick. “You may not agree with their beliefs or choices but acknowledgment of the difficult situations faced would go a long way to making your views less disrespectful.”

Genuis replied in a separate post, saying, “Infanticide is not a lifestyle choice.”

“Killing a child is always wrong, no matter the circumstances.”

Genuis has started a petition encouraging Canadians to sign “to ensure that legal infanticide never becomes a reality in Canada.”