Bill for assisted suicide at end of completed life still encounters objections

The recently amended “completed life” bill is still facing many objections from the political world, it became clear on Friday during the end-of-life electoral debate in Amsterdam's Pakhuis de Zwijger cultural center. The bill, drafted by D66 MP Anne-Marijke Podt, is intended to allow people aged 75 and over to end their lives with assistance if they consider it complete. The adaptation of the bill lies in the duration and intensity of the path to the end of life, and support from an 'end-of-life counselor' will also become mandatory.

"The Christian Union is and remains opposed to such a law," said CU parliamentary candidate Joëlle Gooijer. Although she understands that it gives people the security to decide for themselves when they want to end their lives, she does not believe that it is the government's job to lay this down in law. Gooijer wants to prevent people over 75 from having to deal with the question of whether their life is complete. To which the public reacted angrily.

"I have a lot of respect for my colleague from ChristenUnie, who will be sitting here because this is much more difficult than it is for me," Podt replied, before getting down to business. "It's true that people have to deal with this law, but 80-year-olds also have to deal with the fact that they don't have a choice." The CDA, the other Christian party that took part in the debate, is of course also against the bill.

The BBB has placed itself between the CU and D66. "The law on full life for the elderly who have the option to choose it is a good option, but we are very afraid that in the current situation, it will become a refuge for people who no longer know what to do," said BBB MP Nicki Pouw-Verweij. By "the current situation" she meant "the deep impoverishment of elderly care", and Pouw-Verweij wants to solve this problem first.

GroenLinks-PvdA shared the concerns of the BBB, and the VVD was also skeptical. "We must avoid anything like social pressure at all costs to get people to make this decision," said VVD MP Harry Bevers. "The moment when you think my life is over and it's not allowed, that's the loneliest state," countered Volt MP Marieke Koekkoek. "That's why with a completed life you add something beautiful to the palette we already have in the Netherlands," Koekkoek concluded the debate organized by the NVVE, KBO-PCOB, and the Humanist Association.

However, the bill for a "complete life" seems to meet with great approval among voters. About 80 percent of voters believe that people should be able to get help in dying when they feel they’ve come to the end of their life, Trouw reported on Wednesday.